IAG finalises Air Europa purchase for €500mn

IAG International Airlines Group and Globalia have finalised the sale of Air Europa (UX, Palma de Mallorca) to Iberia (IB, Madrid Barajas) for the reduced sum of EUR500 million (USD606 million), half of what was initially proposed in October 2019. The Anglo-Spanish holding said in a stock market filing that they had also agreed to defer payment until the sixth anniversary of completing the transaction. As such, Globalia will not receive any proceeds until at least mid-2027. The transaction remains conditional on the agreement between Iberia and Spain’s industrial development fund (Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales – SEPI) regarding the non-financial terms of aid it provided to Air Europa. In November 2020, SEPI awarded EUR475 million (USD575 million) to the embattled carrier in two six-year loans, including one participatory loan which granted SEPI two seats on the airline’s board. Iberia will commence talks with SEPI about these unspecified non-financial terms immediately. The transaction must also garner approval from the European Commission. IAG expects to conclude the acquisition in the second half of 2021, “when air travel recovery could be meaningful as the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines proceeds worldwide”. “Net cash outflow to IAG of this transaction is expected to be minimal in 2021, and net cash flows are expected to be positive until at least the repayment of the loan from SEPI in 2026 when merger synergies are expected to be at their full run-rate,” the holding said. IAG added that while it expects synergies between the two Spanish carriers to materialise, in light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic it only foresees them “by 2026”. Among the objectives set forth is the development of Madrid Barajas into a leading hub in the European Union, rivalling Lufthansa Group’s Frankfurt Int’l and Air France-KLM’s Amsterdam Schiphol and Paris CDG. In 2019, Air Europa posted an operating profit of EUR71 million (USD86 million), compared to IAG’s EUR2.6 billion (USD3.15 billion). Neither company has yet published its results for 2020. During the COVID-market last year, Air Europa’s traffic decreased by 70% and its fleet was reduced from 68 to 52 aircraft.