Turkey's Sabanci Family Buys Air Berlin Stake
Turkey's Sabanci family is buying a 15.3 percent in German airline Air Berlin, scooping up part of Len Blavatnik's stake, more than two months after the US billionaire sold the holding.
Blavatnik had sold his 18.9 percent stake in Air Berlin in January, leaving the market guessing who bought the holding. A spokesman for Air Berlin said he could not say who currently holds Blavatnik's shares that had not been acquired by the Sabanci family.
Air Berlin had said in a statement earlier that the Sabanci family's venture capital company ESAS Holding, which operates Turkish carrier Pegasus, had signed a share purchase agreement to buy the stock from Swiss bank UBS.
"We think this is a good step because then we have an investor whom we already know. And the family already knows the aviation industry,
ESAS would be represented on the board of Air Berlin with one non-executive director, Air Berlin said.
The move comes less than two weeks after Air Berlin announced a cross-shareholding agreement that will see TUI Travel's TUIfly unit taking a stake of up to 20 percent in the German carrier.
NO STRATEGIC TALKS
Since Air Berlin's initial public offering in 2006, the company's stock has fallen from 12 euros to just over 3 euros now. Over the past year alone, its price has more than halved.
So far, Air Berlin has not held talks with the Sabanci family or ESAS on the Turkish investor's strategic interest in the company, the spokesman for the airline said.
"We will see whether there will be any strategic moves eventually. Air Berlin is not very strong in Turkey," he said.
The Sabanci family has interests in the automotive, energy and banking sectors. It set up ESAS Holding in 2000 to bundle a number of its investments, which include Pegasus, dairy company Coban Yogurt and electronics retailer Electro World.
Pegasus has a 15-plane fleet that serves routes from Istanbul to countries including Germany, the UK and Switzerland. The airline has positioned itself as a European budget carrier.
