The detailed negotiations over the sale of Airest GmbH between Austrian Airlines AG and the Italian SAVE Group have come to an end, and a contract of sale has been signed. The volume of the contract is approximately EUR 30 million. The transaction will require the consent of the competition authorities. The companies are expecting to receive approval for the deal under competition law within the next few weeks.

Austrian Chief Financial Officer Thomas Kleibl made the following statement on the successful conclusion to the sale: ‘In Airest the SAVE Group is acquiring a first-class, internationally renowned catering company. With the SAVE Group as its owner, meanwhile, Airest will have strong prospects for development and continue to provide the Austrian Airlines Group with its high-quality passenger catering service in a reliable partnership.’

When selling Airest GmbH, Austrian Airlines carried out a comprehensive selection process together with investment bank CA-IB to produce as objective and effective an analysis of the bidders as possible. The SAVE Group emerged from this process as the strongest bidder in December 2005. The numerous attractive bids were evaluated subject to financial and qualitative criteria, as well as taking future development opportunities for Airest into account.
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