Austrian Airlines likely sold Alliance Airlines stake to Qantas

Austrian Airlines sold its remaining 8.31% stake in Australian carrier Alliance Airlines on the same day that Qantas announced it had taken a 19.9% stake in the Brisbane-based charter specialist. Disclosures to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) show that Austrian sold 10m shares on 1 February, but did not disclose the buyer nor the price achieved in the transaction. That is over half the 19.2m shares in Alliance that changed hands on that day, ASX charts show. The AFR reports that Macquarie was involved in purchasing the stock for Qantas, but did not name Austrian as a seller of Alliance’s shares. Austrian took a 12% stake in Alliance in 2015 as part of a cash and shares deal under which the Australian carrier acquired the Vienna-based airline’s fleet of 21 Fokker 100 and 70 jets, plus additional spares. As part of that deal, the Lufthansa Group carrier agreed to a lock-up period on its shares that expired in December 2018. However in October 2016 it was granted a release to sell 4.5m shares. Qantas has indicated that it intends to seek regulatory clearance to build up its stake in Alliance and take majority control. <br/>