|
 Lufthansa was seeking a buyer for the unit, which provides data
centers, networks and telephony, because it requires a high level of
investment and economies of scale, which the airline could not
provide.
"The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would not
raise competition concerns given the very limited overlaps between
the parties' activities and the presence of several strong
alternative players that would remain active after the merger," the
EU executive said in a statement.
The deal, which was announced on October, will result in a one-off
pre-tax charge of 240 million euros ($299 million) for Lufthansa. It
will allow Lufthansa to reduce its annual IT costs by around 70
million euros a year.
Under the planned deal, Lufthansa will outsource all its IT
infrastructure services to IBM under a seven-year deal and the U.S.
firm will take over the airline's IT infrastructure division,
currently part of Lufthansa Systems.
[to top of second column] |
The transaction was examined by the European Commission under the
normal merger review procedure.
(Reporting by Harro ten Wolde, editing by David Evans)
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