British Airways, Iberia Merger under Threat

The proposed merger between British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia could be threatened after BA warned the deal may not go ahead on the basis of current market valuations, the Financial Times said on last week.

The market valuation of Iberia has exceeded that of BA for the first time since negotiations between the two airlines began in July.

BA’s valuation as the market closed in London Friday was 1.69 billion pounds (1.79 billion euros, 2.29 billion dollars) compared with 1.72 billion pounds for Iberia in Madrid. The proposed merger would create Europe’s third-largest aviation group.