VIENNA/BERLIN: Three-time Formula One world champion Niki Lauda said he has partnered with German airline Condor in a bid worth around €100 million for 38 Air Berlin leased aircraft.
Air Berlin, Germany’s second largest airline, filed for insolvency last month after major shareholder Etihad withdrew funding following years of losses.
Administrators are now seeking investors for the business, with bids due by Friday and a decision planned on September 21.
Most potential investors are seen being interested primarily in Air Berlin’s roughly 140 leased aircraft and its airport slots rather than its operating business or employees.
Lauda holds 51 percent of a consortium with Thomas Cook subsidiary Condor which will bid for 21 leased Airbus A320 and A321 planes at Air Berlin subsidiary Niki – which Lauda once owned – and 17 Air Berlin aircraft, he told Austrian newspaper Kurier on Wednesday.
Asked how much he was willing to pay, Lauda told ORF radio on Thursday: “It depends very much on how the details are defined, but we are now offering around €100 million.”
Thomas Cook CEO Peter Fankhauser declined to comment. The company has previously said it was looking to play an active role in the Air Berlin process.
Two sources close to Condor cautioned however that no joint bid had been submitted. One of them said such an offer was unlikely to materialize.
The other source said that Condor remained interested in a double-digit number of planes, including ones for long-haul routes.
Austrian-based Niki has lower costs than Air Berlin and earlier this year it took over flying popular routes from Germany to tourist destinations in Spain.
Lauda and Condor would face competition from Lufthansa, Germany’s largest airline.
Lufthansa plans to make an offer for up to 90 planes, including Niki’s fleet and 38 crewed planes it already leases from Air Berlin, a source told Reuters.
British budget carrier easyJet is also reportedly interested in up to 40 planes, previous reports have said. Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on Thursday that easyJet was interested in Air Berlin’s regional unit Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter (LGW), without specifying its sources.
LGW currently operates 20 smaller Bombardier planes and its operating certificate is being changed so that it can fly the A320s used by easyJet, the newspaper said. The British carrier was not immediately available for comment on Thursday.
Other interested parties include aviation investor Hans Rudolf Woehrl, who says he has submitted a bid for the whole of Air Berlin, while German family-owned logistics company Zeitfracht and China’s LinkGlobal Logistics have also expressed interest.
Air Berlin’s flight operations were disrupted earlier this week after pilots called in sick, in what was seen as a protest about job uncertainty, potentially complicating efforts to rescue the carrier.
Management, unions and politicians all called on the pilots to return to work to ensure talks with bidders could be completed. Air Berlin expects normal operations on Thursday, a spokeswoman said.
Former F1 champion Niki Lauda eyes parts of Air Berlin
Former F1 champion Niki Lauda eyes parts of Air Berlin
Qatar lists first green sukuk as Al Rayan raises $137m
RIYADH: Qatar Stock Exchange listed its first green sukuk after Al Rayan Bank raised 500 million Qatari riyals ($137 million), expanding the range of sustainable Islamic finance instruments in the market.
The three-year sukuk carries an annual profit rate of 4.25 percent and is listed on QSE’s debt market, according to Qatar News Agency. The issuance is the first green sukuk in Qatar’s financial market and the first by an entity registered with the Qatar Financial Centre to be locally listed, cleared and settled.
The listing reflects efforts to deepen Qatar’s debt market and broaden access to Shariah-compliant instruments aligned with environmental, social and governance standards as investor demand for sustainable assets grows globally.
Abdullah Mohammed Al-Ansari, CEO of QSE, said: “The listing of the first green sukuk in QSE’s history represents a significant milestone in the development of Qatar’s capital market. It reflects our commitment to expanding the range of sustainable, Shariah-compliant financing instruments and enhancing the depth and diversity of the debt market in line with global best practices.”
He added: “This achievement also underscores QSE’s role as an integrated platform capable of supporting innovative financing solutions that align with national development priorities and long-term sustainability goals.”
Al Rayan Bank CEO Fahad Abdullah Al-Khalifa said the issuance underscores the lender’s ambition to lead in ESG-linked Islamic finance while strengthening the domestic capital markets infrastructure.
“By offering the first green sukuk to be listed, cleared, and settled in Qatar, we are not only reinforcing our role as a forward-looking institution but also contributing to the development of the local capital markets infrastructure,” he added.
Al Rayan Bank said the issuance reflects its ambition to play a leading role in advancing Qatar’s sustainable finance ecosystem by aligning Islamic banking principles with financing structures designed to deliver long-term value.
The listing comes amid continued development of QSE’s debt market, which has recently introduced inaugural corporate bonds, Islamic sukuk and sustainable bonds.
The green sukuk provides investors with a tradable Shariah-compliant asset that combines financial returns with environmental objectives, supporting portfolio diversification while reinforcing sustainability standards in the local market.
