Lufthansa Cargo Completes Acquisition of LUG aircargo handling

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On November 2, Lufthansa Cargo completed its acquisition of 100% of the shares of LUG aircargo handling GmbH after obtaining all necessary antitrust approvals, making LUG a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Cargo. The acquisition agreement was signed by Lufthansa Cargo and the seller Dettmer Group on September 7, approximately eight weeks from signing to closing.

The scale of LUG can be defined by its operational data. This air cargo handling company has more than 60 years of experience, operates at the Frankfurt, Munich and Hamburg airports, and employs approximately 400 people. In Germany it has approximately 50,000 square meters of covered warehouse space, plus approximately 18,000 square meters of office and infrastructure space; the Munich site has approximately 3,300 square meters of warehouse space, and Hamburg approximately 6,000 square meters directly connected to the apron. According to estimates by German business media, LUG's annual revenue is approximately EUR 21 million (marked as an estimate), making it a regional specialized handler rather than a major transaction that would change the balance sheet scale of the Lufthansa Cargo Group.

In terms of integration arrangements, this acquisition does not involve merging LUG into Lufthansa Cargo's existing system. LUG will continue to operate as an independent company within the Lufthansa Cargo Group, retaining its own brand and existing structure; existing customer contracts and business relationships remain unchanged; and business cooperation with other airlines continues, remaining a core part of LUG's business model. Frank Bauer, Chief Operating Officer of Lufthansa Cargo, said that in an increasingly volatile market environment, the goal is to make the company more flexible, more efficient and more resilient for customers, and therefore to make targeted infrastructure investments in the home market.

What this transaction adds is immediately available handling capacity for Lufthansa Cargo in Germany. Lufthansa Cargo positions LUG's warehouse and apron resources as a supplement to its existing infrastructure: the LCCevo project in Frankfurt is still under phased construction, and what LUG provides is capacity that can be put into use without waiting for new facilities to become operational, while at the same time, by taking on ground handling business for other airlines, it adds a source of service revenue for Lufthansa Cargo beyond its own cargo. After the completion of the transaction, LUG's independent operating model means that there will be no brand unification or system merger in the short term, and service continuity on the customer side is placed ahead of the integration pace.