LOT nationalised

The Polish state has bought back the 25.1 percent of LOT POlish Airlines from the bankruptcy trustee of SAirGroup.

The owner of now defunct Swissair was a strategic investor of LOT in 1999. By buying back the shares, the state may now move on with the privatization of the ailing airlne. It owns now 93.07 % of LOT's shares, while remainder belongs to the employees.

According to Rzeczpospolita, the state treasury paid about 12 million euro for the 25.1-percent share, which suggests that the whole airline may be worth four times that much - 50 million euro. This is less that WSE-listed Pekaes, a Polish transportation and logistics company valued at 320 million zł.

Ten years ago when SAirGroup was buying 37.6 percent of LOT's share, they paid 550 million zł and assessed the value of the airline for 1.5 billion zł. The share was reduced when SAirGroup declined to participate in raising the company's capital by the state's treasury.

Rzeczpospolita wrote that beside its brand and office equioment has nothing at all, as the planes are leased and the modern office building at the Warsaw airport was sold to Eurolot (LOT's regional subsidiary) and is being leased by LOT. Meanwhile, Czech airline CSA is valued at 825 million zł, but the Prague Ryzune airport is considered a major transfer hub, which Warsaw can only dream of.

Sprzedaż LOT-u zawsze będzie sprawą polityczną. Pomysłu sprzedaży linii Lufthansie nie forsowano, kiedy LH była nawet naszą linią zainteresowana. Ale oczywiście jak to tak sprzedać naszą chlubę i dumę Niemcom. Lepiej pozwolić na kumulowanie się finansowej straty... Teraz kiedy Lufthansa zajęta jest dopinaniem przejęć innych linii nagle w Polsce nastąpiło cudowne przebudzenie i na gwałt szukanie inwestora. Tylko czy ktoś zechce kupić linię ze stratą szacowaną na co najmniej pół miliarda i praktycznie bez majątku własnego?