Lufthansa is ready to close the acquisition of Ita Airways, with the closing scheduled for January 13th According to the German agency Dpa, while the first board of directors of the new governance is expected for mid-January, as reported by Radiocor. Although the date has not yet been officially confirmed by either the German giant or the Italian Ministry of Economy, the operation will mark the conclusion of the agreement signed in May 2023 between Lufthansa and the Mef, the sole shareholder of Ita. In addition, Lufthansa has announced an ambitious 2025 hiring plan, with 10 thousand new positions globally. Finally, Citi raised the rating of the shares of German airline from Sell to Buy, underlining the positive outlook for the airline, also in view of this strategic operation.
Despite the many good news, the Lufthansa stock slips of more than 3,9% to Frankfurt.
Ita-Lufthansa: news on governance and “sacrifices” for EU approval
With the European Commission's approval in December, Lufthansa is preparing to acquire 41% of Ita for 325 million euros. However, to obtain EU approval, the two carriers had to make some concessions, including the waiver to part of the slots at Milan Linate, the transfer of some frequencies to the easy family of brands. for routes from Linate e Fiumicino to Germany, Switzerland, Austria e Belgium, and the signing of commercial agreements with IAG (British Airways, Iberia) and Air France-KLM to improve intercontinental connectivity.
With the acquisition also comes the governance news: the new board of directors will see the number of members increase from three to five, with three positions nominated by Italy and two by Germany. In pole position for the task of ceo there is Jörg Eberhart, Italian-German, former president of Air Dolomiti (the Italian company of Lufthansa) and a leading figure in the German group. Eberhart, one of the protagonists of the negotiations, will be responsible for leading the company during this phase of transformation.
Next steps of the acquisition and the hiring plan for 2025
In the coming years, Lufthansa will continue to expand la own participation in Ita, with an investment of a further 325 million euros to acquire another 49% of Ita between 2025 and 2027. This will bring the German company to hold 90% of Ita's shares. In 2027, Lufthansa will have to pay the Mef an earn-out of 100 million euros and the acquisition will be concluded between 2028 and 2029, when Lufthansa will acquire the last 10% of the shares for a sum of 79 million euros. In total, Lufthansa's investment in Ita will amount to 829 million euros.
In the meantime, Lufthansa is also focusing on a massive hiring plan. In 2025, it is planned as many as 10 thousand jobs, including cabin crew, ground staff, and technical and administrative roles. About half of these positions will be in Germany, but opportunities are planned around the world. In the past three years, Lufthansa has created over 30 jobs and today has more than 100 employees in over 90 countries.