Lufthansa weighs listing of stake in jet-maintenance unit

Deutsche Lufthansa AG is considering selling stock in its jet-aircraft maintenance businesses to fund the unit’s expansion and help boost the airline group’s market value, according to people familiar with the matter.

A partial spinoff of the Technik division to Lufthansa shareholders is also being considered, though an initial public offering of a stake in the business is the more likely option, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations aren’t public. The review is at an an early stage and no final decision has been taken, they said.

A spokesman for Lufthansa declined to comment.

For Lufthansa Technik, a minority listing would help generate funds to invest in digitalization or acquisitions, the people said. Unshackling the unit, one of the world’s largest aircraft-maintenance operations, would come as Lufthansa adopts a new holding-company structure meant to allow greater autonomy between its various divisions.

Analysts have said the reorganization will allow Lufthansa to better allocate capital across the company and remove the so-called conglomerate discount that weighs on the share price.

Lufthansa shares gained as much as 2% after-hours on Tradegate after Bloomberg reported on the deliberations.

Technik has an enterprise value of about 7.5 billion euros ($8.3 billion), according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst George Ferguson, more than Lufthansa’s market capitalization of 6.9 billion euros.

The business had revenue of 5.15 billion euros, including internal business, in the first nine months of 2019 and adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of 371 million euros, according to the company’s most recent financial report. It employs about 26,000 people worldwide.