SAS tries to sell its bmi stake
By IAG | March 30th, 2007 | Posted in air france, bmi, british airways, iberia, klm, lufthansa, sas | No Commentsbmi stock is a hot commodity right now. The airline's slots at Heathrow have shot up in value. Scandinavian Airlines has been touting its 20% stake in bmi this week, trying to find a buyer among other airlines or private equity. An obvious buyer is Lufthansa, the other major stakeholder than Sir Michael Bishop, the CEO.
There is a lot of jockeying going on right now among Europe's airlines. Reports are that Lufthansa is sniffing around Alitalia. Texas Pacific is also looking there, as well as at Iberia. The three main players (and alliances) likely to be left standing after an consolidation will include British Airways (a stakeholder in Iberia already), Air France/KLM and Lufthansa. The question will be which of the others will be aligned with which of these three.
SAS' stake in bmi is a great first card to play. SAS is in the Star Alliance, making it a friend of Lufthansa. So a deal between them on bmi is likely. It could be that SAS goes public on its bmi stake sale to make sure it gets the highest price – friendship only goes so far, after all.
