Aeroflot aims to close purchase of 49% Aeromar stake from Lufthansa by year's end

MOSCOW. Dec 3 (Interfax) - Russian flag carrier Aeroflot expects to close the deal to buy out a 49% stake in JSC Aeromar, Russia's largest on-board catering provider, from Germany's Lufthansa Group before the end of 2025, the airline's CEO, Sergei Aleksandrovsky said.

"We're already close to closing. I think we'll complete before the end of the year and announce this," Aleksandrovsky told reporters on the sidelines of state bank VTB's 16th Russia Calling! investment forum.

The deal was announced in September, when Aleksandrovsky said it had already been cleared by the relevant government commission and was waiting for approval from the president. The deal will increase Aeroflot's stake in Aeromar to 100%.

Lufthansa announced plans to sell its stake in Aeromar back in September 2022.

Aeromar closed 2024 with a net loss of more than 511 million rubles compared to a profit of 63 million rubles a year earlier, although revenue to Russian Accounting Standards jumped 37% to 19.4 billion rubles. The company said rising cost of sales, and increasing management and commercial expenses put substantial pressure on its financial results.

Aeromar was incorporated in 1995 and is based at Aeroflot's home airport of Sheremetyevo, the Unified State Register of Legal Entities shows. The company had a workforce of almost 4,000 people at the end of 2021.