Five international carriers line-up for stake in Austrian Airlines

Vienna: At least five international airline companies have expressed their formal interest in picking up a stake in Austrian Airlines, Austrian daily Die Presse reported on Tuesday. These include Germany's Lufthansa, Russian airline S7, Air France-KLM, Air China and Turkish Airlines, all of which have notified Austrian state holding company OeIAG of their interest before the deadline expired on Sunday, the daily aid.

OeIAG is offering its 43 per cent holding in Austrian, worth around 157 million euros ($251.5 million), though the size of the offer may change as a 25 per cent stake must remain under Austrian ownership.

The shares of Austrian have lost 13 per cent since the start of the year, and were down a further 2 percent, at 5.33 euros, early on Tuesday, having closed 10 percent higher on Monday.