By Kirsti Knolle and Francois Murphy
VIENNA (Reuters) – Former motor racing champion Niki Lauda has won the bidding for the Niki airline he founded, convincing the insolvent carrier’s administrators in marathon talks and undoing an agreed deal with British Airways owner IAG.
The previously agreed sale of Niki to IAG fell through after two courts ruled the insolvency proceedings had to move to Austria from Germany.
That cleared the way for other parties such as budget airline Ryanair and Lauda to again bid for the carrier, which most recently was part of failed German airline Air Berlin.
Niki’s creditors met on Monday to pick the best bid, and their meeting ran past midnight.
“In the early hours of this morning Laudamotion GmbH emerged from a transparent bidding process as the best bidder,” Niki’s Austrian and German administrators, Ulla Reisch and Lucas Floether, said in a joint statement, referring to a company controlled by the three-times Formula One world champion.
They did not disclose a purchase price and said they expected legal approval for the transaction to follow soon.
“Of course, I am delighted,” Lauda, who founded Niki in 2003 but sold his remaining stake to Air Berlin in 2011, said in an interview with Austrian broadcaster Oe24. “There’s no doubt that I have always put my heart and soul into Niki.”
The 68-year-old moved into the airline industry as his driving career was coming to an end in the 1980s. He plans to scrap the Niki brand name and integrate the carrier into the Laudamotion business, he told Austria’s ORF radio.
