According to SPIEGEL information, three favorites are emerging in the race for the takeover of the former Thomas Cook subsidiary Condor. In addition to the American financial investor Apollo, the Polish airline LOT and the British investment company Greybull are among the serious interested parties. According to insiders, all three have expressed interest in taking over the airline, which is currently still operating under the protective shield procedure.
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Binding offers must be submitted next week, and then the candidates will be subjected to a more stringent individual examination. The two financial investors do not want to comment on the events, LOT did not respond to a SPIEGEL request.
These are the concepts and prospects of the three applicants:
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Apollo reportedly wants to take over Condor together with German tour operators. They are concerned that sufficient flight capacity will be available on the German market in summer. However, they should only make a comparatively small financial contribution and, in return, prefer to transport their customers with the Condor. In the medium term, it is said in negotiation circles, Apollo could possibly even take the charter carrier to the stock exchange.
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The Polish scheduled airline LOT in turn, the purchase of the Condor could become critical for the first time in order to assert itself on the market. With the help of Condor, it could expand its long-haul network to include holiday destinations. However, it seems unclear how the LOT managers want to create a link between their main traffic hub in Warsaw and Condor, which is geared towards the German market.
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Greybull Again, according to insiders, the three prospects are considered to be the least promising, although the concept could possibly be similar to that of Apollo.
Meanwhile, the sales process is well on track, insiders report. The booking situation at Condor is stable, although a cooling-off can be seen in the medium term. The chance that the bridging loan granted by the federal government and the state of Hesse over 380 million euros can be repaid on time in April is also considered positive.
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Payments for all bookings made after April 1st are already deposited into an escrow account to secure the passengers. This sum should already cover a substantial part of the loan granted.
Condor went bankrupt last summer with the bankruptcy of its parent company Thomas Cook, even though it itself was operating profitably. Since December she has been working in self-administration under a protective shield procedure, a special case in German insolvency law. The airline has thus gained time in which not all creditors have to be served. Ideally, it can present a new investor until the creditors’ meeting on March 5.
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