The operation has been closed for around 500 million euros and gives the IAG group (International Airlines Group), an airline conglomerate to which Iberia belongs, the opportunity to consolidate its offer with destinations in Central America, the Caribbean and Latin America.
The IAG group has managed to close the operation to take over Air Europa, one of the main airlines in Spain. This operation had been planned for more than 4 years, but the pandemic blew up the initial plan of the IAG group and Air Europa, which had to ask the state for a bailout due to the consequences of the pandemic.
The operation has been closed for around 500 million euros, of which 100 were paid last year when IAG acquired 20% of the company. The rest of the payment will be made with 200 million, of which half will be in cash and the rest in shares of the IAG group. The remaining 200 million will be paid in two payments in the coming two years after the approval of the operation.
An operation that, although it has the approval of both parties, will now have to deal with the authorities to evaluate whether this agreement complies with all the rules established by the EU to avoid cases of monopoly. The group has assumed that they will have to sacrifice shared routes between Iberia and Air Europa, but that even so the impact of this agreement will be totally positive both in Iberia and in the positioning of the Madrid-Barajas airport as one of the main "hubs" or connection center in Europe.
With this acquisition, the IAG group seeks to expand and strengthen its connection routes between Europe and America, focusing on South America, Central America and the Caribbean, areas in which Air Europa has established itself over the years with a gradual increase in its presence and of its connections with Europe.
