German government sells remaining Lufthansa shares

BERLIN (Reuters) -The German government has sold off its 20% stake in Lufthansa acquired during the coronavirus pandemic, it said on Tuesday.

The state’s economic stabilisation fund (WSF), which saved Lufthansa from bankruptcy during the pandemic with a bailout package totalling 9 billion euros ($8.97 billion), had progressively reduced its stake in recent years with the aim of offloading it completely by October of 2023.

It has now sold its last remaining shares to international investors in a block placement for 455 million euros, the fund said in a statement on Tuesday night.

It earned a total of 1.07 billion euros from selling its shares, yielding a 760 million euro profit from the investment.

“The government aid package successfully helped the business through the crisis,” it said.

Deutsche Bank, one of the global coordinators and bookrunners for the sale alongside Goldman Sachs, said earlier on Tuesday that the fund wanted to offer institutional investors around 74.4 million Lufthansa shares, corresponding to 6.2% of the airline’s share capital.

Lufthansa shares closed down 1.5% at 6.32 euros per share on Tuesday.

($1 = 1.0030 euros)

(Reporting by Victoria WalderseeEditing by Bill Berkrot and Jonathan Oatis)