Lufthansa Group and Gategroup concluded a purchase agreement for the European operations of LSG Group in December 2019 and gategroup has now met all of the requirements of the European Commission.
On Wednesday (December 2, 2020), the Lufthansa Group announced the completion of the sale of LSG Europe, the European operations of the LSG Group, which account for around a third of LSG Group’s business. The sale has now been closed after gategroup met all the requirements of the European Commission. The deal includes the European catering business as well as the lounge and train business, the retail convenience brand Evertaste and European facilities, the equipment business SPIRIANT, and the Ringeltaube brand retail stores. The financial details of the transaction are undisclosed. In Wednesday’s announcement, Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s CEO, Carsten Spohr, said,
“With the sale of LSG's European business to gategroup, we are setting another milestone in the restructuring of the Lufthansa Group. We are focusing more strongly on our core airline business, we are becoming leaner, more efficient and reducing the Group's internal complexity. My sincere thanks go to the 7,500 employees who are now joining gategroup. They have led our catering business in Europe to success in recent years and will continue to indulge Lufthansa guests with premium catering under the leadership of gategroup.”
Gategroup is a long-term catering partner for catering and services in Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich and Lufthansa will retain a minority stake in the Frankfurt and Munich catering facilities, which provide inflight services for Lufthansa flights. As part of the seamless transition, gategroup will introduce a new Lufthansa-dedicated Studio 50/8TM, a culinary think tank and exclusive “house of inspiration” and co-creation which will set the new industry catering standard. The Lufthansa Group still plans on selling the remaining international operations of LSG Group as soon as general market conditions allow.
Source: Lufthansa Group