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Lufthansa cancels its plans to purchase a stake in Air Europa

A spokesperson for the German Group announced on Tuesday that Lufthansa had abandoned its plans to bid for an interest in the Spanish airline Air Europa. This comes only one week after Air France KLM also announced that it would be pulling out of the bidding process.

Turkish Airlines is the only bidder known to exist. British Airways' owner IAG has a 20% stake but after years of discussions, failed to gain regulatory approval for the full takeover.

After thorough analyses and intensive negotiations, at this point we have decided to refrain from further engagement in a capital contributions and shareholdings in Air Europa," said the Lufthansa spokeswoman.

Globalia, a family-owned business that controls Air Europa, has declined to comment. Turkish Airlines has not responded to a comment request.

Carsten Spohr, the chief executive of Lufthansa, said last week that negotiations over a possible stake at Air Europa would be difficult. Sources also stated that any proposed deal will be complex due to IAG's current stake.

In the past, it was reported that the process had been delayed due to disagreements among members of the Hidalgo Family, who own Air Europa, as well as concerns expressed by interested airlines about the structure of this deal. Reporting by Ilona wissenbach and Joanna Plucinska. Additional reporting by Ceyda caglayan and Inti landauro. Editing by Inti landauro and Kirsten Donovan.

(source: Reuters)