Lufthansa hires Morgan Stanley to sell BMI

12th Sep 2011 11:35

Lufthansa appears to have taken another step towards the sale of BMI British Midland by hiring Morgan Stanley to explore options. It also assigned a new managing director to review a possible restructuring, as reported by Sunday Times.Among the possible candidates to buy the German company's British subsidiary are IAG and Virgin Atlantic. IAG is not a very likely purchaser considering that it would probably not get regulatory approval. Virgin Atlantic would need a partner in order to come up with the financing.BMI reported a loss of 106 million pounds for the first half of the year, reducing Lufthansa's profit to only 3 million euros.Germanwings GmbH, Lufthansa's low-cost airline, plans to hike prices next summer in order to face the risk of higher kerosene prices and aviation fees.At 11:35am, Lufthansa is down 1.37% to €10.425.S.C.