The rumour mill has been running full time of late with more talks about another merger between airlines. This time, the market has speculated that the Scandinavian-owned airline SAS will be forming an alliance with German airline Lufthansa.
This rumour is a repeat of the comments made in September by the new Swedish government that suggested that SAS was a potential privatisation target.
A German trader commented to Reuters that “rumours are circulating that they [Lufthansa] are in merger talks with SAS, but that could be based on the fact that Goldman suspended its investment rating and price target due to compliance issues.”
The speculations have been quashed by many others even on the reasons that the involvement of three governments in the ownership of SAS would complicate the issue. Any sale would be a long and arduous process, particularly when 14.3% stakeholder Norway has been against any sale of its stake.
Despite the many voices saying that the rumour is purely a rumour, SAS shares have seen a boost in the past day with shares going up more than 5%.
