I am fascinated by the news in the Sunday Times. If bmi are close to their CAA covenants they will be closely monitored by the CAA. It is a confidential process but would be known to any purchaser. If bmi are in breach the CAA have the power to revoke the operating licences. That would render the company far less valuable to say the least.
Whatever the situation LH will know the facts. Given the rumours about the level of loss in the overall bmi organisation last year (c 100 m) it would not be surprising if bmi was under regular CAA review. Current trading conditions must be vile for bmi with pressure on all fronts.
The other consideration is that of the EU. They did not rubber stamp the deal and have promised a preliminary ruling this week. But they must be concerned about the impact on competition at LHR. The first obvious indication of the future LH policy is the strengthening of services/frequencies between LHR and Germany. One would expect more of this at the expense of frequencies on other routes particularly on UK domestic routes. This has already happened and MAN will probably be next.
So if the first impact of LH ownership is to reduce current competition why should the deal be approved?