Europe rubber-stamps IBM Lufthansa outsourcing gig

Nothing to see here, says EU, 'no competition worries'

The European Commission has given IBM the green light to splash $1.25bn on Lufthansa's tech infrastructure wing.

As part of the deal, which includes an outsourcing agreement, the airline will split its subsidiary, Lufthansa Systems, into three companies, offloading the infrastructure division to Big Blue.

"The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would not raise competition concerns given the very limited overlaps between the parties' activities and the presence of several strong alternative players that would remain active after the merger," the EU stated.

"The transaction was examined under the normal merger review procedure," it added.

Around 1,400 Lufthansa Systems employees will transfer to IBM as part of the deal, which was first outlined in October, and is expected to save the airline €70m on annual IT spend.

The plan is that Lufthansa will outsource its IT nuts and bolts services to IBM for seven years. ®