Ryanair agrees to sell Aer Lingus stake to IAG
Ryanair’s Board has voted unanimously to accept the IAG offer for its 29.8% shareholding in Aer Lingus Group.
It means IAG, which also owns British Airways and Iberia, will be able to go ahead with its €1.3 billion bid for Aer Lingus, although it still needs European Union approval.
The Irish Government, which owned 25% of Aer Lingus, accepted IAG’s offer in May.
Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said: "We believe the IAG offer for Aer Lingus is a reasonable one in the current market and we plan to accept it, in the best interests of Ryanair shareholders.
"The price means that Ryanair will make a small profit on its investment in Aer Lingus over the past nine years.
"This sale of our stake is timely given that our original strategy for Aer Lingus (to use it as a mid-priced brand to offer competition to flag carriers at primary airports) has been overtaken by the successful rollout – since Sept 2011 – of Ryanair’s ‘Always Getting Better’ strategy, which has seen the Ryanair brand successfully enter many of Europe’s primary airports, being rewarded with strong growth in our network, traffic, load factor and profitability, while keeping our fares low and our punctuality high.
"We wish IAG well with their takeover of Aer Lingus."
Ryanair had made three failed attempts to take over Aer Lingus.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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