Air Berlin welcomes Blavatnik as investor - paper
April 6th, 2008 | by admin |FRANKFURT, April 6 (Reuters) - Air Berlin (AB1.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) wouldwelcome billionaire investor Len Blavatnik, who may take a 19percent stake in the German airline, as a shareholder, ChiefExecutive Joachim Hunold told the Tageszeitung newspaper.
Hunold said Blavatnik “obviously is interested in along-term engagement” in remarks released by the newspaper onSunday ahead of publication on Monday.
Air Berlin said on Friday that Russian-born industrialistBlavatnik had agreed to acquire a 19-percent stake that troubledinvestor Vatas Holding was selling.
Blavatnik, who lives in the United States, ranks 40th onForbes’s list of richest Americans and has built a businessempire that stretches from America to Russia.
Hunold said Air Berlin’s outlook for 2008 operating profit,which it slashed on Monday to a range of 73 to 120 million euros($115-$188 million), was not a formal forecast.
“We described a target corridor where the result, with allits volatility, could land,” he said.
Hunold added that Air Berlin’s acquisition of German holidayairline Condor from Thomas Cook (TCG.L: Quote, Profile, Research) should run more smoothlythat its previous acquisition of charter airline LTU if approvedby the German cartel office.
He said Air Berlin would not seek further acquisitions ifsuccessful with Condor. (Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Paul Bolding)
