VIENNA: Austrian former racing driver Niki Lauda has been selected to buy the assets of Niki, the airline he founded in 2003, the administrators of the former Air Berlin subsidiary said Tuesday.
Lauda’s bid was preferred over Anglo-Spanish group IAG/Vueling. It was the third offer the former Formula One driver had made since September for Niki — formerly a unit of now-bankrupt Air Berlin, and most recently operated by Lufthansa.
“At the end of a transparent tender, (the company) Laudamotion GmbH came out early in the morning as the best bidder,” Niki’s Austrian and German administrators said in a brief joint statement.
No details of the transaction have been revealed so far.
Lauda sold the airline to Air Berlin in 2011.
The administrators had specified the need for a swift green light from the authorities of the two countries for finalization of the deal.
At the end of December IAG announced that it had been selected, as part of Air Berlin’s liquidation procedure, to purchase “up to 15 A320 aircraft and a portfolio of attractive slots” owned by Niki.
The cost of the transaction, which was to be finalized at the end of February, was set at €20 million, plus up to €16.5 million to provide liquidity for the company.
British Airways owner IAG had indicated plans to hire about 740 of Niki’s 1,000 employees.
However, the bidding procedure was relaunched in mid-January after Austria said it fell under its remit as Niki’s head office was in that country.
Niki was grounded in December after applying to open insolvency proceedings.
Lufthansa, which had wanted to buy the holiday airline together with large parts of Air Berlin, had to abandon its plans because of EU competition concerns.
Niki Lauda selected to buy airline he founded
Niki Lauda selected to buy airline he founded
European gas prices soar almost 50% as Iran conflict halts Qatar LNG output
- Analysts warn prolonged disruption could push prices higher
- Some shipments of oil, LNG through Strait of Hormuz suspended
- Benchmark Asian LNG price up almost 39 percent
LONDON: Benchmark Dutch and British wholesale gas prices soared by almost 50 percent on Monday, after major liquefied natural gas exporter Qatar Energy said it had halted production due to attacks in the Middle East.
Qatar, soon to cement its role as the world’s second largest LNG exporter after the US, plays a major role in balancing both Asian and European markets’ demand of LNG.
Most tanker owners, oil majors and trading houses have suspended crude oil, fuel and liquefied natural gas shipments via the Strait of Hormuz, trade sources said, after Tehran warned ships against moving through the waterway.
Europe has increased imports of LNG over the past few years as it seeks to phase out Russian gas following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Around 20 percent of the world’s LNG transits through the Strait of Hormuz and a prolonged suspension or full closure would increase global competition for other sources of the gas, driving up prices internationally.
“Disruptions to LNG flows would reignite competition between Asia and Europe for available cargoes,” said Massimo Di Odoardo, vice president, gas and LNG research at Wood Mackenzie.
The Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub, seen as a benchmark price for Europe, was up €14.56 at €46.52 per megawatt hour, or around $15.92/mmBtu, by 12:55 p.m. GMT, ICE data showed.
Prices were already some 25 percent higher earlier in the day but extended gains after QatarEnergy’s production halt.
Benchmark Asian LNG prices jumped almost 39 percent on Monday morning with the S&P Global Energy Japan-Korea-Marker, widely used as an Asian LNG benchmark, at $15.068 per million British thermal units, Platts data showed.
“If LNG/gas markets start to price in an extended period of losses to Qatari LNG supply, TTF could potentially spike to 80-100 euros/MWh ($28-35/mmBtu),” Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, said. The British April contract was up 40.83 pence at 119.40 pence per therm, ICE data showed.
Europe is also relying on LNG imports to help fill its gas storage sites which have been depleted over the winter and are currently around 30 percent full, the latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed. In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract was down €1.10 at €69.17 a tonne
