Lufthansa Revives Talks With SAS Over Stake, Sueddeutsche Says

By Aaron Kirchfeld and Bo Nielsen

Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe’s second-biggest airline, has revived talks with SAS Group on buying a stake in the Scandinavian airline, Sueddeutsche-Zeitung reported, without saying where it got the information.

Initial talks earlier this year collapsed because Cologne, Germany-based carrier Lufthansa and SAS had different visions, the newspaper said. Lufthansa Chief Executive Officer Wolfgang Mayrhuber, speaking on the sidelines of an event in Chicago, declined to comment on talks with SAS, Sueddeutsche said.

Lufthansa spokesman Wolfgang Weber declined to comment on “market rumors” when contacted by Bloomberg News today. “We don’t comment on this process,” said Elisabeth Manzi, director of media relations at SAS Group.

Analysts such as Geoff van Klaveren of Exane BNP Paribas have said Lufthansa is the most likely buyer of SAS after the Stockholm-based owner of Scandinavian Airlines said on Sept. 23 it’s in talks about a “structural solution” for the company.

Lufthansa, which has a market value of 4.83 billion euros ($6.45 billion), agreed earlier this month to buy 41.56 percent of Austrian Airlines AG to add destinations in eastern Europe. SAS is currently worth 5.74 billion kronor ($710 million).

Lufthansa “needs to do a lot more than it has,” Sueddeutsche cited Mayrhuber as saying when asked about acquisitions.

To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Kirchfeld in Frankfurt at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net; Bo Nielsen at bnielsen4@bloomberg.net