Exclusive: Turkish Airlines explores Air Europa stake as bid deadline looms
Interested investors have been asked to submit binding bids by early July, one of the sources and two more said. The sources declined to be identified because the terms are confidential.
Turkish Airlines' consideration of a bid is significant as there are few examples of carriers outside Europe buying shares in players in the region. The interest has been reported by Spanish online newspaper El Espanol. The deadline for binding bids has not previously been reported.
Air France KLM (AIRF.PA), opens new tab and Lufthansa (LHAG.DE), opens new tab are also in talks with Globalia, the holding company of the family Hidalgo that founded the company, about buying a stake, Reuters reported previously.
The airline makes just over a quarter of its revenues from Europe. It has a codeshare agreement with Air Europa.
Turkish Airlines (THYAO.IS), opens new tab did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while its shareholder Turkey's Wealth Fund declined to comment.
A representative for Globalia and the Hidalgo family said they did not want to comment on an ongoing operation because of confidentiality issues. Lufthansa declined to comment. An Air France-KLM spokesperson said the airline is interested in reinforcing its longstanding cooperation with Air Europa.
Binding bids would mark the next phase of a prolonged sale process as Air Europa seeks to raise cash to repay a government loan granted during the pandemic. A previous plan had aimed for binding bids in May, two of the sources said.
The process has faced delays due in part to disagreements between members of the Hidalgo family and concerns from interested airlines on the structure of the deal, according to the two sources and a fourth one said.
The interested parties are working with advisers to structure bids in the hope that buying a minority stake of about 20% may put them in a better position to take control of the airline in the future, the two sources added.
Some potential suitors have expressed concern over a lack of clarity about how they may be able to do that, according to the fourth person with knowledge of the talks.
Last year, BA-owner IAG (ICAG.L), opens new tab which has a 20% stake, abandoned a deal to take full ownership of the airline after regulators raised issues over competition given its ownership of Spanish carrier Iberia. It also owns Vueling and Aer Lingus.
Pressure has mounted on airlines to consolidate in Europe to better compete with major global rivals from the United States and the Middle East. Many are focusing on the most popular routes in southern Europe as a target for expansion.
Air Europa flies within Spain and between Madrid and large cities in Europe and Latin America.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Auto Express
17 minutes ago
- Auto Express
Car Deal of the Day: MGS5 EV for under £200 a month is a true bargain
Easy to drive; good quality interior Near 300-mile range Just £194.74 a month The MG ZS EV is dead, so meet its replacement. The MGS5 EV takes MG's small electric SUV offering to new heights, while also sticking to what we loved about the ZS EV – and that's excellent value for money. Advertisement - Article continues below This deal underlines that and then some. Through the Auto Express Find a Car service, Lease Car UK is offering the British-badged small electric SUV for just £197.47 a month – that's a real bargain in our book. An initial payment of £2,717.64 isn't even too unreasonable, while mileage is capped at 5,000 a year. Nudging this up to 8,000 per annum won't break the bank, coming in at just under £18 extra month. It's especially good value when you realise that this deal is for the Long Range model. Here, a 64kWh battery pack yields a claimed range of just under 300 miles, while a peak DC charging rate of 135kW means a 10-to-80-per-cent top-up will take just 26 minutes. Along with the larger 64kWh battery, you get the entry-level SE trim, but there's no issue on that front. MG likes to give its cars a high standard of specification, so the SE gets 17-inch alloys, full LED headlights, rear parking sensors with camera, a 12.8-inch infotainment screen, along with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There's even a nifty smartphone app so you can control various functions of the car. One area where the MGS5 EV is a big improvement on the old ZS EV is interior quality. There's a higher standard of fit and finish and attention to detail than before, with a range of plush materials used. Meanwhile, it's a roomy car considering its compact dimensions, with a spacious 458-litre boot. On the road, the car feels easy and very natural to drive, with good acceleration and a ride that strikes the right balance between comfort and taut body control. The Car Deal of the Day selections we make are taken from our own Auto Express Find A Car deals service, which includes the best current offers from car dealers and leasing companies around the UK. Terms and conditions apply, while prices and offers are subject to change and limited availability. If this deal expires, you can find more top MGS5 EV leasing offers from leading providers on our MGS5 EV page. Check out the MGS5 EV deal or take a look at our previous Car Deal of the Day selection here… Find a car with the experts Electric cars driven until they die: the truth about EV range Electric cars driven until they die: the truth about EV range Five EVs under £24k have joined Dacia's Spring on the UK market. How far can you go on a budget? We find out Volkswagen, Skoda and Cupra slash electric car prices Volkswagen, Skoda and Cupra slash electric car prices Volkswagen, Skoda and Cupra aren't waiting around for the government grant by cutting £1,500 from their EV prices New MINI Cooper and MINI Aceman get the monochrome treatment New MINI Cooper and MINI Aceman get the monochrome treatment It's as simple as black and white for new MINI Cooper and MINI Aceman Monochrome
Telegraph
18 minutes ago
- Telegraph
An establishment stitch-up at the expense of consumers
The market reaction to the Supreme Court's intervention in the car finance mis-selling scandal tells you everything you need to know about this grubby saga. Shares in Lloyds Bank, the UK's biggest car finance provider through its Black Horse brand, jumped as much as 7.5pc when trading commenced on Monday morning, leaving it at the top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard. The share price of Close Brothers, a specialist lender that is disproportionately exposed to the car finance market, surged as much as 25pc having sunk to 30-year lows as the industry braced for PPI-sized payouts. Shares in Bank of Ireland and Barclays, both of which have car finance arms, rose 4.2pc and nearly 2pc respectively. Make no mistake about it, the Supreme Court's ruling is a serious let-off for the banks and other lenders that have a big presence in the car loans space. True, revised payout estimations of between £9bn and £18bn to customers who were mis-selling victims is not to be sniffed at. However, even the top end of the range is less than half the £44bn bill the sector was collectively thought to be facing before the Supreme Court decision. The lower end would be just a quarter. It is a massive result for an industry that fought this case tooth and nail. Anthony Coombs, a former Tory MP and now chairman of lender S&U, whose shares had tanked 33pc at one stage, described it as 'a victory for common sense'. I'm not so sure about that. I certainly share the concerns of many about the shameless ambulance-chasing law firms and claims management firms that have helped fuel Britain's compensation culture. Clearly, it means there is a high risk of people jumping on the bandwagon and lodging bogus claims that the banks then feel the need to recover through higher borrowing costs for all of us. But that's hardly a new phenomenon – there will always be a relatively small number of chancers looking to game the system wherever they can. I'm less inclined to celebrate what has the unmistakable feel of an establishment stitch-up at the expense of consumers. I have a natural aversion to the armies of highly-paid lobbyists who go into bat for big business, skewing what is already a massive power imbalance even further. Consumers already face a David-versus-Goliath battle to be treated fairly. In this case, the scare tactics employed were particularly shameless as industry campaigners sought to ensure the Supreme Court's ruling was as favourable as possible to the banking community. Even now, despite a significant legal climbdown, these same activists felt the need to take to the airwaves to issue fresh apocalyptic warnings. Stephen Haddrill, the director general of the Finance & Leasing Association, claimed the scheme could push up borrowing rates for car-buyers as if somehow large corporations have no choice but to always pass on any additional costs to their customers. The same arguments were rolled out after Covid when companies claimed they were lifting prices to offset their own cost increases and they were no more convincing back then – with research suggesting pandemic profiteering was rife among the biggest companies. As if that wasn't sufficiently disingenuous, John Phillipou, chairman of the Finance & Leasing Association, weighed in too, complaining that there was a risk of harm to Britain's 'investability'. Still, lobbying is what lobbyists do and at least they make no attempt to hide their true intentions. Moreover, Phillipou is only echoing our alarmist Chancellor, and it is surely far more outrageous that she sought to meddle in the outcome. Rachel Reeves has absolutely no business at all involving herself in such matters, while there is zero evidence to back up her suggestion that large-scale payouts represented a threat to growth. Yet, as with the wrong-headed ousting of the chairman of the competition watchdog, the Treasury will stop at nothing in its attempts to deflect blame for Britain's floundering economy from the Chancellor's job-wrecking tax raid. The reasons for the UK's lack of competitiveness are innumerable and too often they can be laid at the door of 11 Downing Street. Reeves's willingness to side with bank bosses instead of standing up for the little man is also disquieting. The job of the Supreme Court judges is to ignore the noise and correctly apply the law but ministers seem to have allowed themselves to be captured by the lobbying fraternity. Voters may see it as another betrayal from a party that has waged war on hard-working families with its tax blitz. As Liberal Democrat MP Bobby Dean rightly said, Government interventions like this set a bad precedent if the reason for intervening is that it might damage industry, 'because then almost every consumer redress case would fall'. Dean, who is a member of the powerful Treasury select committee that polices the City, regulators and the Treasury, points out that compensation schemes give consumers confidence to borrow and invest, 'if they know they will be protected when companies take advantage of them'. It is now down to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to restore the balance after it confirmed it will consult on a redress scheme for those still entitled to compensation. But that hardly inspires confidence. After all, this is the same FCA that was described in a damning report by MPs and Lords just last year, as 'incompetent at best, dishonest at worst'; its actions as 'slow and inadequate.' The chances of the watchdog suddenly showing some teeth seem slim.
Reuters
18 minutes ago
- Reuters
Nornickel's first-half net profit up 2% to $842 million
MOSCOW, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Russian metals producer Nornickel ( opens new tab said on Monday its net profit for the first six months of 2025 rose 2% to $842 million, helped by a reduction in accumulated inventories. Revenues at Nornickel, a major producer of refined nickel and palladium, increased 15% to $6.46 billion, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 12% to $2.63 billion, it said. "The company's financial performance improved somewhat, despite mixed performance of commodity prices and unfavourable forex movements," CEO Vladimir Potanin said in a statement. "As our logistics were further adjusted, management was able to reduce accumulated inventories, while keeping the increase in cash operating costs below the inflation rate," Potanin added. Nornickel's shares were up 1.1% on the Moscow Stock Exchange. Potanin noted the company raised $2.4 billion using instruments denominated in U.S. dollars and China's yuan and increased investment by 15% to $1.1 billion. He added that the company was developing digital and artificial intelligence tools, estimating their contribution to the company's annual EBITDA at $100 million. While Nornickel is not subject to direct Western sanctions over Russia's actions in Ukraine, the measures have prompted some producers to avoid buying Russian metal, complicated payments, and restricted access to Western equipment. Nornickel's net profit fell 37% in 2024 as Western sanctions and low metals prices squeezed earnings. The company said that improved logistics in the first half of the year enabled it to sell off stocks of metals. It added that the start of interest rate cutting by Russia's central bank would lower debt servicing costs.
