London - British Airways owner IAG announced a deal to buy German rival Lufthansa’s UK unit bmi for £172.5m in cash, and said jobs would go as part of an urgently-needed restructuring of the loss-making carrier.
Lufthansa has the option of selling the airline’s ’bmi regional’ and ’bmibaby’ units before the deal completes, and IAG will pay a significantly lower price if those businesses are offloaded, IAG said on Thursday, unveiling details of a deal agreed in principle in November.
“Given the scale of bmi’s losses, there is an urgent need to restructure the business,” IAG chief executive Willie Walsh said.
“Unfortunately this will mean some job losses but we will secure a significant number of high quality jobs here in the UK.”
IAG shares closed at 145.1 pence on Wednesday, valuing the business at about £2.7bn.