Lufthansa reiterates interest in Iberia but silent on timing

Frankfurt: Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa repeated its interest in buying Spanish carrier Iberia yesterday but would not comment on a magazine report that it could take over the airline this month.

"We are sticking by the previous comments made by our chief executive that Iberia is of strategic interest to Lufthansa in principle. But the company is too expensive, in our view," a spokeswoman for Luft-hansa said.

WirtschaftsWoche reported Lufthansa head Wolfgang Mayrhuber had engaged a team of managers and experts to look at a takeover, adding that comments about Iberia being too costly were a red herring designed to test the market's reaction.

Limited time

"A deal in April is possible," the magazine quoted a company source as saying. "If someone else now goes and buys Iberia, it'll either be off the market or it'll be on offer at an even higher price in two years' time."

The Lufthansa spokes-woman would not comment further.

Shares in Iberia have soared almost 80 per cent in the last six months as takeover interest in the Spanish carrier has swirled, giving it a market value of around 3.8 billion euros ($5.15 billion), according to Reuters data.

Texas Pacific Group has offered an indicative price of 3.60 euros a share for the airline in a 3.4 billion-euro bid, though Iberia stock closed at 3.99 euros on Friday, indicating the market thinks a higher bid likely.