News

Bmi closes in on sale of Bmibaby

2 Feb 2012 by BusinessTraveller

Lufthansa subsidiary Bmi has signed non-binding terms for the sale of low-cost carrier Bmibaby to a “UK based company”, including an agreement to continue using the brand name “for an interim period”.

Bmi announced plans to sell Bmi Regional in October last year (see online news October 28, 2011), and has now signed a term sheet for the sale of its other offshoot Bmibaby.

The agreement is non-binding and non-exclusive at this stage, but if it goes ahead the sale will comprise “100 per cent of the shares of bmibaby, all assets and liabilities used in the Bmibaby business including the aircraft fleet, the existing route network and the continued employment of the existing staff”.

Bmi says the new owner would continue to use the Bmibaby brand name “for an interim period”, with the currently published summer 2012 schedule continuing as planned, and the head office remaining in the Midlands.

As with the intended sale of Bmi Regional, Bmi says it has agreed with the potential buyer not to disclose any financial aspects of the transaction. Bmi says that it is envisages “that the legally binding transaction documents will be signed in the first quarter of 2012 and the completion of the transaction would occur shortly after this, subject to regulatory approval”.

Lufthansa signed an agreement in principle to sell Bmi to the BA/Iberia founded International Airline Group (IAG) late last year. At this time IAG’s chief Willie Walsh said that “Bmi Regional and Bmibaby are not part of our plans and Lufthansa has the option to sell them before completion”.

For more information visit flybmi.com, lufthansa.com, iairgroup.com, ba.com.

Report by Mark Caswell

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