German government sells its last shares in Lufthansa for $1 billion

The German government has sold its last shares in the country's biggest airline, Lufthansa, which it stepped in to rescue at the height of the coronavirus crisis.

On Tuesday, the government's Finance Agency said that the remaining stake of about 9.9 per cent has been sold to international investors. The agency's head, Jutta Doenges, said that the total proceeds from selling the government's holdings came to €1.07 billion ($1.06 billion) — a significant gain over the €306 million ($305 million) for which the shares were acquired.

Doenges said that “the stabilisation of Deutsche Lufthansa AG has been concluded successfully” and “the company is once again in private hands”.

Lufthansa — which also owns carriers such as Austrian Airlines and Swiss — received a €9 billion government rescue package in mid-2020. The German government then took a 20 per cent stake in the company.

In November, Lufthansa said it had paid back all the aid and cancelled funds that it hadn't tapped. It also said that it had drawn down about €3.8 billion of aid in total, including the €306 million that covered the stake taken by the government’s economic stabilization fund.

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