IBM, HP, Atos chasing Lufthansa IT infrastructure business

Company "in talks with several sector heavyweights"

IBM, HP and French IT services firm Atos are all reportedly taking an interest in acquiring airline company Lufthansa's IT infrastructure business, which has been up for sale since earlier this month.

A report in German newspaper Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung quotes Lufthansa CFO Simone Menne as saying the company is "in talks with several sector heavyweights" about "a takeover of the IT infrastructure", and that Lufthansa planned to secure "most" of the division's jobs following a sale.

None of the three companies named in the article have come out with a comment so far.

Lufhthansa Systems is to be split into three parts for sale: Airline Solutions, Industry Solutions and Infrastructure - which is the part said to be attracting the interest of IBM, HP and Atos.

Employing 1,400 people, and accounting for 40 per cent of Lufthansa Systems, Infrastructure provided only 25 per cent of the organisation's profit last year.

Lufthansa Systems Infrastructure focuses on virtualised workspace models, hosting client data at its own data centres in Kelsterbach, near Frankfurt, as well as in Dallas, London and Singapore. Lufthansa calls its Kelsterbach operation "one of the most modern of its kind in Europe".

Infrastructure is also an SAP-certified partner, offering ERP, CRM and SCM [supply chain management] solutions on a scalable infrastructure.

Lufthansa's IT division was last pursued by Tata Consultancy Services back at the end of 2011, with Tata eventually deciding not to go ahead with an acquisition due to concerns about profitability and problems reaching agreements with Lufthansa's labour union.