Following the finalisation of Deutsche Lufthansa’s capital increase, the company has completely repaid the €1.5bn drawn from the Silent Participation I of the Economic Stabilization Fund of the Federal Republic of Germany (ESF). With this, Deutsche Lufthansa has settled a major part of the currently outstanding stabilization measures of the ESF. The repayment was made significantly earlier than originally planned.
The gross proceeds of the capital increase amounted to €2.162bn, and the new shares are now being traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
"We are very grateful that Deutsche Lufthansa AG was stabilized with tax money in the most challenging of times,” said Carsten Spohr, CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa. “This has made it possible to preserve more than 100,000 jobs and secure them for the future. Today, we are keeping our promise and paying back a large part of the stabilization funds earlier than expected. We are increasingly confident about the future. More and more countries are opening their borders, and demand for air travel, especially from business travellers, is growing daily. Nevertheless, the environment for airlines remains challenging. That is why we are consistent in continuing our transformation. Our goal remains unchanged: the Lufthansa Group will continue to defend its position among the world's top 5 airline groups."
Following today's repayment of the Silent Participation I, Deutsche Lufthansa also confirmed that it intends to fully repay the Silent Participation II of €1bn before the end of 2021 and to terminate the unused portion of Silent Participation I before the end of 2021. A KfW loan of €1bn has already been paid back earlier than planned in February 2021. The ESF, which now holds 14.09% of the share capital, has committed not to sell any shares in the company in the six months following the completion of the capital increase. However, the sale of the stake is to be completed no later than 24 months after completion of the capital increase, provided that Lufthansa has repaid the Silent Participations I and II as planned and that the contractual requirements are met.
Deutsche Lufthansa’s capital increase offered existing shareholders new shares on a 1:1 ratio for €3.53 per share, which corresponds to a discount of 39.3% to the TERP (theoretical ex-rights price).
Global coordinators and joint bookrunners are: BofA Securities, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs E and JP Morgan, with additional joint bookrunners: Barclays Bank, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Credit Agricole CIB, DZ Bank, HSBC, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, SMBC Nikko Capital Markets, Société Générale and UniCredit Bank.
Deutsche Lufthansa subsequently placed the remaining 9,814,586 new shares for which subscription rights had not been exercised during the subscription period successfully with institutional investors. The final gross proceeds from the capital increase amounted to €2,162 million.