Korean Air receives final approval from EU competition authority for business combination review… Acquire Asiana stocks by the 20th of next month |

Meets EU requirements for ‘organizing overlapping routes and promoting sale of cargo business’
Share EU approval details with US competition authorities
Asiana plans to acquire 1.5 trillion won worth of stock through paid-in capital increase
The Asiana Airlines merger and acquisition process was carried out for the next two years.

The European Union competition authority has finally approved the business combination of Korean Air and Asiana Airlines. This is because Korean Air met all prerequisites for conditional approval presented by the EU competition authorities.

The EU Competition Authority (EC, European Commission) announced on the 28th (local time) that all prerequisites for the integration of Korean Air and Asiana Airlines have been met and the review will be concluded.

The prerequisites that the EC set when deciding on conditional approval in February were stable operations by new entrant airlines (Remedy Takers) on four overlapping European routes (Paris, Frankfurt, Barcelona, ​​and Rome) and promotion of the sale of Asiana Airlines’ cargo plane business.

To meet this requirement, Korean Air selected T’way Air as a new airline entering the passenger sector. Since then, we have provided diverse support for aircraft, flight crew, and maintenance for the launch and continued operation of four European routes. Some of the slots on the route were also handed over to T’way Air. Air Incheon was selected as the buyer of Asiana Airlines’ cargo plane business. The EC competition authority also judged that Air Incheon was suitable as a business to take over Asiana Airlines’ cargo plane business and deemed that it met the prerequisites. Government ministries such as the Korea Development Bank also contributed to this EC’s final approval.

A Korean Air official said, “We have reported the EC’s final approval to the U.S. Competition Authority (DOJ, Department of Justice).” According to the industry, in the United States, there is no separate approval announcement process and if a lawsuit is not filed, it is considered approved.

With the final approval in Europe, the corporate merger review in major countries has entered the final stage of completion. The business combination review is a prerequisite for Korean Air to acquire Asiana Airlines stocks. It took about four years just to conduct the business combination review, which was a prerequisite. Accordingly, Korean Air will begin acquiring Asiana Airlines shares by the 20th of next month, the transaction closing deadline. By participating in a paid-in capital increase worth 1.5 trillion won, it will secure 63.9% of Asiana Airlines shares and have Asiana Airlines as a subsidiary. Over the next two years, Asiana Airlines will go through the process of being acquired and merged with Korean Air.