It was already pretty clear that Lot‘s parent company was looking for ways to get out of buying Condor. The Corona crisis has hit PGL hard. Their subsidiary had to stop all flights. Money for investments is lacking, Lot even needs financial aid from the government.
So far, Condor had said that they were still in constructive talks. But now it is official: PGL is withdrawing. «Condor has not proved that its financial situation allows it to continue operations,» the business news agency ISB News quotes a PGL spokeswoman as saying.
«We can confirm that PGL has informed us that it intends to withdraw from the purchase,» said a Condor spokeswoman to aeroTELEGRAPH. Talks are now being held with the Polish company in order to define possible conditions for withdrawal. «We are also examining how we will assert our claims from the signed contracts.»
Despite the PGL spokeswoman's statement, the German leisure carrier is optimistic. «Condor is prepared for this scenario,» the spokeswoman said. According to her statement there are various options for the future ownership structure, such as a trustee structure. «We are also in talks about state aid because of the effects of the Corona crisis.»
Freight and return flights
Flight operations would continue as far as possible on a regular basis, as far as the effects of the Corona crisis were concerned. «At present, we are concentrating in particular on cargo and harvest aid flights to contribute to the basic medical and freight supply in Germany.»
The airline, which usually specializes in holiday flights, at the Moment regularly flies to China via its specially established hub in Almaty, Kazakhstan, to bring medical supplies - including face masks - to Germany. Condor had also organized return flights on behalf of the German government, bringing home some 78,000 stranded vacationers.
Three buyers in the final round
In the final round, PGL was not the only one bidding for Condor. A consortium around the financial investor Apollo and German tour operators as well as the investment company Greybull had also been interested in a purchase. In view of the precarious situation in which the travel industry finds itself after the crisis, a purchase by a finance company would probably be the most likely option by now. But even there, profits are no longer as high as before.
