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20 percent stake in Latvia's airBaltic carrier sold to Danish investor

Xinhua, April 7, 2017 Adjust font size:

Danish investor Lars Thuesen has acquired 20 percent stake in Latvia's airBaltic national carrier from German entrepreneur Ralf Dieter Montag-Girmes, Latvian website lsm.lv reported on Friday.

On Thursday, Thuesen became the sole owner of Aircraft Leasing 1, which used to belong to Montag-Girmes and holds 20 percent of airBaltic shares, representatives of the Latvian airline said.

The Latvian government, which holds 80 percent in airBaltic, approved the deal last month.

Until now, information about Thuesen has been scarce in Latvia. The Danish businessman owns a number of companies and is experienced in aviation business. He is a board member of several companies in Denmark and has worked in Scandinavian airline SAS and Nordea bank.

In late 2015, the Danish newspaper Berlingske Business reported about financial troubles of BasisBank, a consumer loan provider headed by Thuesen.

The Danish business paper Borsen, meanwhile, reported about solvency issues of Thuesen's airline Jet Time which had to resort to mass layoffs.

When talking to Latvian journalists, Thuesen was reluctant to discuss his business issues.

"Jet Time has had problems in recent years. We are trying to deal with them, but this has nothing to do with airBaltic. As an entrepreneur, I invest in many companies," the Danish businessman said.

Like Montag-Girmes before him, Thuesen only wants to be the Latvian airline's financial investor without an ambition to increase his influence in the company.

German investor Montag-Girmes acquired the 20 percent stake in airBaltic in March 2016, injecting 52 million euros (55.2 million U.S. dollars) in the airline's capital.

Latvian aviation expert Talis Linkaits told LETA news agency that the latest change of airBaltic's minority shareholder should not lead to any major shakeups in the airline's operations.

He noted, at the same time, that unlike Montag-Girmes, the Danish investor's business profile and experience suggest of greater connection with aviation and that Thuesen is therefore likely to provide greater clarity about his motivation and intentions.

Latvian Transport Ministry state secretary Kaspars Ozolins said that the deal has been legally closed and the shareholders' agreement has been signed. Thuesen notified airBaltic about the conclusion of the deal on Friday. Endit