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Qatar Airways signed an agreement with Cargolux International Airlines to acquire a 35% holding in Europe's largest all-cargo carrier. CEO Akbar El Baker last month revealed that the company was negotiating an acquisition of around one-third of Cargolux.
The equity purchase is part of a wider agreement that cements close commercial cooperation between the carriers. The transaction was signed Thursday in Luxembourg, but no information on the value or the terms of the agreement was released. The companies said they would disclose further details at closing, which is expected to take place in the coming weeks.
"Our investment in Europe's leading cargo carrier Cargolux boosts our ambition to become one of the major players in airfreight by 2015," QR Chairman Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al Thani said. CV President and CEO Frank Reimen noted that the carriers identified "numerous synergies owing to the complementary nature of our businesses that will enable us to develop scale and reach and strengthen our respective hubs in Luxembourg and Doha. The implementation of the cooperation plan will be a driver of high customer satisfaction, enhance our competitiveness through improved returns and benefit the Luxembourg economy overall through extra trucking and handling tonnage and the creation of new jobs."
In a joint release, the companies said that QR's 35% equity interest in Cargolux marks the "termination of the temporary role of the Luxembourg state as a shareholder in the company and enables other state-controlled shareholders who participated in the 2009 Cargolux restructuring plan through the acquisition of a 33.7% holding of former SAirlines to sell or reduce their ownership in Cargolux." Luxair, the country's national carrier, is CV's largest shareholder with 52.1% while four Luxembourg financial institutions—BCEE (13.1%), SNCI (12.8%), BIP Investment Partners (11.5%) and Lux-Avantage (2.2%)—hold 39.6% and the Luxembourg state holds 8% directly. BCEE's capital is entirely owned by the Luxembourg state.
"Everybody wins from this partnership," Al Baker said. "We seek to fuel our growth plans by including airfreight as a major part of our product offering. Our investment in Cargolux, a sound and healthy company and a leading all-cargo carrier, will deliver great value to Qatar Airways."
Cargolux returned to the black in 2010 after three years of losses