Iberia buys Air Europa for 500 million euros
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The IAG group reached an agreement with the Hidalgo family one month before the end of the negotiation period
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The IAG group reached an agreement with the Hidalgo family one month before the end of the negotiation periodEdurne Martínez
Madrid
Friday, 24 February 2023, 11:12
Iberia has purchased Air Europa for 500 million euros the IAG group announced on Thursday 23 February. The announcement came just a day before IAG presents its 2022 results to investors and analysts this Friday.
Four years after the proposed acquisition of Air Europa by Iberia and its IAG group, the board of Globalia, owned by the Hidalgo family, has accepted the conditions to close a purchase that last year involved an outlay of 100 million euros for 20 per cent of the airline.
The operation is estimated at around 500 million euros, half of what was announced in 2019 when the pre-pandemic valuation was much higher. In 2022, the year of the Covid lockdown, Air Europa had to ask for a state bailout of 475 million euros. The company explained in a statement that the agreement involves the acquisition by IAG of the remaining 80 per cent of Air Europa for 400 million euros, to be added to the 100 million euros already paid in 2022.
Once the operation is approved by the European competition authorities, the first payment of 200 million euros will be made: 100 million euros in cash and the other half in IAG shares at the price set at the signing of the agreement closed on Thursday. This will make Globalia a major shareholder of the IAG group.
The other two payments, of another 100 million euros each, will be made on the first and second anniversary, respectively, of the approval by the competition authorities, according to sources consulted.
«This operation reinforces the value of the company and demonstrates the solidity of the Air Europa project,» said the IAG group, which added that the operation will have «great scope» for the promotion of the strategic hub of Madrid-Barajas airport.
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