VIENNA/BERLIN: Three-time Formula One world champion Niki Lauda said he has partnered with German airline Condor in a bid worth around €100 million for 38 Air Berlin leased aircraft.
Air Berlin, Germany’s second largest airline, filed for insolvency last month after major shareholder Etihad withdrew funding following years of losses.
Administrators are now seeking investors for the business, with bids due by Friday and a decision planned on September 21.
Most potential investors are seen being interested primarily in Air Berlin’s roughly 140 leased aircraft and its airport slots rather than its operating business or employees.
Lauda holds 51 percent of a consortium with Thomas Cook subsidiary Condor which will bid for 21 leased Airbus A320 and A321 planes at Air Berlin subsidiary Niki – which Lauda once owned – and 17 Air Berlin aircraft, he told Austrian newspaper Kurier on Wednesday.
Asked how much he was willing to pay, Lauda told ORF radio on Thursday: “It depends very much on how the details are defined, but we are now offering around €100 million.”
Thomas Cook CEO Peter Fankhauser declined to comment. The company has previously said it was looking to play an active role in the Air Berlin process.
Two sources close to Condor cautioned however that no joint bid had been submitted. One of them said such an offer was unlikely to materialize.
The other source said that Condor remained interested in a double-digit number of planes, including ones for long-haul routes.
Austrian-based Niki has lower costs than Air Berlin and earlier this year it took over flying popular routes from Germany to tourist destinations in Spain.
Lauda and Condor would face competition from Lufthansa, Germany’s largest airline.
Lufthansa plans to make an offer for up to 90 planes, including Niki’s fleet and 38 crewed planes it already leases from Air Berlin, a source told Reuters.
British budget carrier easyJet is also reportedly interested in up to 40 planes, previous reports have said. Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on Thursday that easyJet was interested in Air Berlin’s regional unit Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter (LGW), without specifying its sources.
LGW currently operates 20 smaller Bombardier planes and its operating certificate is being changed so that it can fly the A320s used by easyJet, the newspaper said. The British carrier was not immediately available for comment on Thursday.
Other interested parties include aviation investor Hans Rudolf Woehrl, who says he has submitted a bid for the whole of Air Berlin, while German family-owned logistics company Zeitfracht and China’s LinkGlobal Logistics have also expressed interest.
Air Berlin’s flight operations were disrupted earlier this week after pilots called in sick, in what was seen as a protest about job uncertainty, potentially complicating efforts to rescue the carrier.
Management, unions and politicians all called on the pilots to return to work to ensure talks with bidders could be completed. Air Berlin expects normal operations on Thursday, a spokeswoman said.
Former F1 champion Niki Lauda eyes parts of Air Berlin
Former F1 champion Niki Lauda eyes parts of Air Berlin
Webuild reports no hiccup on NEOM activities after mega project CEO’s departure
LONDON: Italy’s construction group Webuild told Reuters on Tuesday its activities connected to Saudi Arabia’s NEOM are continuing in line with the plan, after the infrastructure mega project’s long-time CEO left the role last week.
“Webuild has no evidence of changes in the activity plan initially set for the projects it is implementing, nor has it recorded any delay in payments,” the company said.
NEOM, a Red Sea urban and industrial development nearly the size of Belgium due to house nearly 9 million people, is central to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan to create new engines of economic growth beyond oil.
Webuild, which has been active in Saudi Arabia for 60 years, is building a system of three dams that will feed an artificial lake in the Trojena area and a high-speed railway called the Connector.
Riyadh’s office space to see major expansion by 2026, driven by regional HQ program: Knight Frank
- Saudi capital to see 1m sq. meters of new office space in two years
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s push for regional headquarters has spurred demand for office space in Riyadh, with the capital’s stock set to grow by 1 million sq. meters by 2026, a report showed.
According to global property consultancy Knight Frank’s Autumn 2024 Saudi Arabia Commercial Market Review, this will bring the city’s total office space to 6.3 million sq. meters.
The regional HQ program also impacts office lease rates, with 517 companies now committed to establishing their primary hub in the Kingdom, the report disclosed.
This comes ahead of the nation’s goal of attracting approximately 480 multinational corporations to move their headquarters to the Kingdom by 2030.
“Vision 2030 is reshaping Saudi Arabia’s economy and society, with a central focus on transforming Riyadh into a key regional and global center for business, finance, leisure, and tourism,” said Faisal Durrani, partner and head of research for the Middle East and North Africa at Knight Frank.
“Indeed, 49 percent of the new jobs created in the Kingdom over the last five years has been in Riyadh, which is adding to the upward pressure on office rents, with many key office districts and business parks fully leased, with waiting lists,” Durrani added.
He went on to say that the limited availability of office space is also forcing up Riyadh’s Grade B rents, which have climbed by 27 percent over the past year.
In the Dammam Metropolitan Area region, Grade A rents have climbed by 2.2 percent since the third quarter of 2023, fueled mainly by strong demand from the public sector, he added.
Saudi hotel industry sees 11.4% spending surge, amid overall weekly POS decline: SAMA
RIYADH: Spending in Saudi hotels saw a week-on-week increase of 11.4 percent between Nov. 10 and 16, reaching SR399.7 million ($106.4 million), according to the Kingdom’s central bank.
The weekly point-of-sale transactions bulletin from SAMA showed that restaurants and cafes recorded the second largest sectoral increase with a 4.3 percent rise to reach SR2.07 billion, which also equated to the biggest share of the overall value.
Spending on furniture came in third place, registering a 2 percent increase to SR304.8 million.
Overall, Saudi Arabia’s POS transactions registered a weekly decrease of 1.5 percent, with the education sector leading the decline.
SAMA recorded SR13.2 billion in transactions over the week, with the education industry posting the highest sectoral decrease at 47.9 percent to reach SR89.5 million.
The central bank’s figures showed that the electronics sector saw the second-largest dip, with a 10.9 percent slide to SR198 billion.
Spending on telecommunication recorded the third most significant decrease, at 7.4 percent, reaching SR117.1 million.
Expenditure on food and beverages saw a 0.6 percent negative change this week, reaching SR1.9 billion, claiming the second-biggest share of this week’s POS transaction value.
Spending on miscellaneous goods and services followed, accounting for the third largest POS share with a 4.1 percent dip, reaching SR1.5 billion.
Spending in the leading three categories accounted for 42 percent or SR5.5 billion of the week’s total value.
At 0.02 percent, the smallest increase occurred in spending on recreation and culture, boosting total payments to SR309.5 million. Expenditures on public utilities surged by 0.2 percent to SR52.9 million.
Geographically, Riyadh dominated POS transactions, representing 34.06 percent of the total, with expenses in the capital reaching SR4.5 billion — a 3.5 percent decrease from the previous week.
Jeddah followed with a 0.04 percent surge to SR1.8 billion, and Dammam came in third at SR641.4 million, down 4.6 percent.
Madinah experienced the most significant rise in spending, increasing 6.9 percent to SR567 million.
Tabuk recorded a decline of 7.5 percent, reaching SR235.9 million, and Abha dropped 3.4 percent to stand at SR149.4 million.
Japan, Saudi medical centers unite to revolutionize stem cell therapy
- Cytori Therapeutics K.K., has been a pioneer in the stem cell therapy business
TOKYO: Cytori Therapeutics Japan and the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen research and training initiatives in the field of cell therapy.
The signing ceremony took place between Dr. Ahmed Alaskar, executive director of KAIMRC, and Hoshino Yoshihiro, president and CEO of Cytori Therapeutics K.K., during the Riyadh Global Medical Biotechnology Summit 2024.
The partnership underscores the potential of regenerative medicine in treating chronic diseases such as diabetes, liver cirrhosis, critical limb ischemia, chronic wounds, knee osteoarthritis and other aging-related conditions. The aim of combining Cytori’s cutting-edge stem cell technology with KAIMRC’s expertise in translational research is to develop groundbreaking treatments for these critical health issues.
The two organizations will collaborate on fundamental research, clinical trials and other areas of mutual interest, including projects in biomedical R&D, preclinical studies and clinical trials, as well as training and development for staff in health-related and engineering fields.
Cytori Therapeutics K.K., has been a pioneer in the stem cell therapy business, specializing in cell therapy services and the development of adipose-derived regenerative cells from human subcutaneous fat tissues for therapeutic use. The company also develops, manufactures, and exports medical devices.
This article is also available on Arab News Japan
Oil Updates – prices little changed as market weighs mixed drivers
SINGAPORE: Oil prices held steady for a second day on Wednesday as concerns about escalating hostilities in the Ukraine war potentially disrupting oil supply from Russia and signs of growing Chinese crude imports offset data showing US crude stocks rising.
Brent crude futures dipped 5 cents to $73.26 a barrel by 8:41 a.m. Saudi time. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures was flat at $69.39 per barrel.
The escalating war between major oil producer Russia and Ukraine has kept a floor under the market this week.
“We may expect (Brent) oil prices to stay supported above the $70 level for now, as market participants continue to monitor the geopolitical developments,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG.
On Tuesday, Ukraine used US ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory for the first time, Moscow said. Russian President Vladimir Putin lowered the bar for a possible nuclear attack.
“This marks a renewed build up in tensions in the Russia-Ukraine war and brings back into focus the risk of supply disruptions in the oil market,” ANZ analysts said in a note to clients.
On the demand side, US crude oil stocks rose by 4.75 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 15, market sources said on Tuesday, citing American Petroleum Institute figures.
That was a bigger build than the 100,000 barrel increase analysts polled by Reuters were expecting.
Gasoline inventories, however, fell by 2.48 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations for a 900,000-barrel increase.
Distillate stocks also fell, shedding 688,000 barrels last week, the sources said.
Official government data is due later on Wednesday.
In a boost to oil price sentiment, there were signs that China, the world’s largest crude importer, may have stepped up oil purchases this month after a period of weak imports.
Data from vessel tracker Kpler showed China’s crude imports are on track to end November at or close to record highs, an analyst told Reuters.
Weak imports by China so far this year have pulled down oil prices, with Brent sinking 20 percent from its April peak of more than $92 a barrel.
