Lufthansa is working with Deutsche Bank and Bank of America to sound out investors about a capital increase worth roughly E3b, possibly as soon as June, people close to the matter said. The final size and timing of the rights issue to repay state aid Lufthansa received during the pandemic will be subject to market conditions and the German airline is expected to opt for a June/July or September/October window, the people said. Lufthansa and the banks, the lead advisers on the deal, declined to comment. Lufthansa shareholders this month approved a potential capital increase of up to E5.5b, though finance chief Remco Steenbergen has said that was just the sum of the two tranches of hybrid capital, dubbed silent participation, it received as part of a 2020 bailout. “The actual increase will be lower than that and is really dependent on what we see the need to be at the moment we decide to issue,” he has said.<br/>