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German investor inks shareholder deal with Latvia's airBaltic carrier

Xinhua, February 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

Latvian national carrier airBaltic on Thursday concluded a shareholder agreement with German investor Ralf Dieter Montag-Girmes, the company said.

The deal provides for injecting 132 million euros (148 million U.S. dollars) in the Latvian airline which needs to upgrade its fleet to stay competitive.

Last year, the Latvian government decided to sell a 20-percent stake in airBaltic to Montag-Girmes who pledged to invest 52 million euros in the airline's capital.

The remaining airBaltic shares will remain with the Latvian state. The Latvian parliament has already approved an 80-million-euro Treasury loan for the company.

Lawmakers also added a clause to the airBaltic shareholders' agreement banning the purchase of Russian-made Sukhoi Superjer planes in case the investor wanted to sell them to airBaltic, which under its current plan is supposed to buy brand new CSeries airliners made by Canadian manufacturer Bombardier.

Montag-Girmes, who will receive interest from the Latvian company, has not revealed for how long he intends to keep his money in airBaltic. He said that it will depend on the market situation and that he has not set a deadline for selling his stake in airBaltic.

Transport Ministry state secretary Kaspars Ozolins indicated that the deal has been concluded taking into account the plan to find a strategic investor for airBaltic, but that Montag-Girmes' investment will not hamper this process in any way.

AirBaltic expects to receive the first Bombardier jetliners in late September 2016. (1 euro = 1.12 U.S. dollars) Endit