Found this today on the Frankfurt Allegmeine website. It reads:
FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--Die Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Frankfurt, spricht derzeit mit der britischen Airline British Midland plc (bmi) und ihrem Hauptaktionär Michael Bishop über die künftige Struktur der Airline. Michael Bishop habe am 10. Oktober 2008 eine Option ausgeübt, die Lufthansa dazu verpflichte, 50% plus einer Aktie an bmi zu erwerben, teilte Lufthansa am Mittwoch mit. Diese Option sei Teil eines Shareholder Agreement.
Now my German is a bit rusty but I translate that as roughly:
FRANKFURT (Dow Jones) - The German airline Lufthansa has held talks with British Midland plc (bmi) and her main shareholder Michael Bishop about the future structure of the airline. Michael Bishop has exercised on the 10th October, 2008 an option which obliges Lufthansa to acquire 50% plus a stock in bmi, as informed by Lufthansa on Wednesday. This option is a part of a shareholder Agreement.
So it looks like Sir Michael has decided to bow out of the game. He has had a hell of a run and now LH looks set to completely dominate the European and North Atlantic skies with a MAJOR foothold at LHR. I bet this is exactly what Wee Little Willie was hoping would NOT happen!