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Iberia has taken advantage of the steep fall in the British Airways share price to more than double its stake in BA to 7.3 per cent in the past three weeks.
The Spanish flag carrier announced at the end of July it had bought an initial stake of 2.99 per cent as the two airlines disclosed they had begun negotiations on an all-share merger aimed at producing a European carrier to rival Air France-KLM and Lufthansa.
Iberia said then it also had financial exposure to a further 6.99 per cent of BA through contracts for difference – derivatives that enable investors to take a position without owning stock outright.
With the recent further acquisitions of BA shares, it has closed out the equivalent portion of its derivatives long positions, according to a filing to the London stock exchange.
Iberia said in July it had "no intention" of increasing its total economic exposure to BA above the level of 9.99 per cent but it did intend “at an appropriate time” to acquire additional BA shares. BA’s share price closed 3 per cent higher on Thursday night at 125p.
About 450 managers are to leave British Airways as part of the group’s efforts to cut costs as its profits plunge. BA had offered voluntary redundancy to up to 1,400 managers.
Source : Financial Times (www.ft.com)
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