Turkish Airlines buys a stake in Spain's Air Europa for 300 million euros

One of Spain's largest airlines, Air Europa, has finally accepted Turkish Airlines' offer to buy between 26% and 27% of its share capital for 300 million euros.

The president of the Spanish airline, Juan José Hidalgo, signed the letter of acceptance of the offer early on Tuesday afternoon. The Turkish company will acquire around 27% of the capital for 25 million euros more than expected, which will be used to purchase shares very soon, according to Europa Press.

The money offered will initially be a loan to Air Europa, which will then be converted into shares once the transaction has been approved by the competition regulators.

The Turkish flag carrier will therefore become the Spanish airline's main partner and second largest shareholder after the Hidalgo family, who own the company through their Globalia firm.

The Turks will now have more shares in Air Europa than Iberia, which through its parent company IAG (which also owns BA) acquired 20% of the capital of Air Europa with the aim of buying the entire company, a transaction that was thwarted by the European competition authorities a year ago.