Air France-KLM Starts Move to Take Majority Control of SAS

Air France-KLM plans to lift its stake in Scandinavian airline SAS AB to a controlling holding, as it looks to extend consolidation in European aviation and better compete with rivals Deutsche Lufthansa AG and IAG SA.

The carrier group, which owns nearly 20% of SAS now, will raise that to 60.5% by acquiring the stakes held by Castlelake LP and Lind Invest, Air France-KLM said in a statement. The price will be determined by SAS’s financial performance at closing, while the Danish government will continue to hold 26.4% in SAS and retains its board seats.