Lufthansa May Sell Thomas Cook before Year End

Lufthansa could agree to sell its 50 percent stake in tourism firm Thomas Cook to co-owner KarstadtQuelle before Christmas, a German newspaper said on Saturday.

German Boersen-Zeitung said without citing sources that Lufthansa could sign a letter of intent with KarstadtQuelle to sell its stake to the German retailer, while further details of the deal would be negotiated later next year.

Thomas Cook is jointly owned by Lufthansa and KarstadtQuelle. Karstadt has long made known it wants to buy Lufthansa’s holding in Europe’s second-biggest tourism firm, while Lufthansa has said Cook was not a core business and that the aim was to make the firm fit for a stock listing.

Lufthansa declined to comment, but sources close to the matter said that Thomas Cook’s leisure airline Condor could also be sold to Karstadt.