The Thiele family, Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s second-largest shareholder, sold more than half of its stake in the airline group following the death of Heinz Hermann Thiele, the bookrunner said Thursday. KB Holding GmbH, Thiele family’s investment vehicle, sold 33m of its 60m shares, the statement said, at a placement price of 9.80 euros per share. The placement price represented about 10% discount to Thursday’s closing price of E10.8680 and made the sale worth E323.4m. Heinz Hermann Thiele, majority owner of German braking systems maker Knorr-Bremse, died in February at the age of 79. Thiele had acquired a major stake in Lufthansa and became a highly visible public figure last year when portrayed as the main obstacle to the state bailout the airline needed to survive the coronavirus crisis.<br/>
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State aid packages to help airlines stay afloat during the pandemic are causing pain months later for investors who’ve been told they won’t be collecting interest on Deutsche Lufthansa AG bonds. The German airline said Wednesday that it will suspend coupon payments on E500m of junior-ranking notes to comply with EC rules. Once the aid package expires, the company will make up for the lost interest, it said. The event was seen as a one-off stemming from an effort by the EU to level out the playing field where state-supported airlines enjoy an advantage over rivals. The bonds have already recovered from the news, which initially caused them to slump more than 8 cents. They were bid at 96.1 cents on the euro Thursday, according to Bloomberg data. The suspension is not related to the company’s liquidity or credit stress and “is a specific and isolated case,” said Andrea Seminara, chief executive at Redhedge Asset Management. “We think corporate hybrids coupon deferral risk continues to remain low.”<br/>
Asiana Airlines narrowed its Q1 operating loss to W11.2b ($9.9m), compared with W2 trillion a year earlier. The carrier’s revenue for the three months ended 31 March was W7.8t, down 31% from a year earlier, says the carrier. Net losses also narrowed to W230b from W549b a year earlier. The carrier attributed the narrowing of losses to its efforts to reduce sales and costs. A bright spot in the carrier’s earnings was cargo, with cargo revenues nearly doubling to W611 billion, with demand coming from Southeast Asia, the Americas and Europe. Key cargos included electronic equipment, e-commerce goods, and personal protective equipment. The robust cargo performance was aided by a pair of Airbus A350-900s that were re-tasked for cargo services in February, providing 46t of freight carriage per flight. In addition, the airline worked to improve its operating deficit in passenger traffic through charters and sight-seeing flights, given that international services are all but impossible owing to the coronavirus pandemic.<br/>