IAG to offer remedies to EU for Air Europa deal (updated)

ASIANA AIRLINES

16/01/2024 17:01

(Adds details)
    By Foo Yun Chee
       BRUSSELS, Jan 16 (Reuters) - British Airways owner IAG
 ICAG.L  expects EU antitrust regulators to open a full-scale
investigation into its plan to buy Spain's Air Europa and will
offer remedies to address their concerns, IAG's chief executive
said on Tuesday.
    The deal is part of a wave of consolidation in the airline
sector, with Germany's Lufthansa  LHAG.DE  seeking to buy a
minority stake in Italy's state-owned ITA Airways, and Korean
Air  003490.KS  looking to buy Asiana  020560.KS .
    EU regulators have recently taken a tougher line when
deciding whether to approve deals, and now sometimes want
acquiring airlines to divest assets and not just give up some
routes or airport slots to address competition concerns.
    "We have informed the (European Commission) case team that
we will formally present remedies in Phase 2 to allow them to
fully assess the viability and relevance of our proposals,"
IAG's Luis Gallego said.
    Phase 2 refers to the full-scale investigation that the
Commission is set to launch at the end of its preliminary review
on Jan. 24.
    "In the meantime, we continue to test interest from a range
of remedy takers to ensure they meet the Commission's
requirements," Gallego said.
    IAG, which also owns Iberia, in February last year said it
had agreed to pay 400 million euros ($436 million) to Spain's
Globalia for the 80% of Air Europa it did not already own.
    ($1 = 0.9184 euros)

 (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee
Editing by David Goodman and Mark Potter)
 ((foo.yunchee@thomsonreuters.com; +32 2 585 2866; Reuters
Messaging: foo.yunchee.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))