Aer Lingus owner hires Deutsche Bank for €500m share buyback

Aer Lingus's parent, International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), said it has concluded terms of its planned €500 million share buyback programme, with Deutsche Bank hired to implement the plan.

IAG, which was set up in 2011 through the merger of British Airways and Spanish flag carrier Iberia, said on Monday that the plan involved the maximum purchase of 8.9 per cent of the company's shares and that it would buy no more than a quarter of the average volume of traded shares in any given day.

The programme, which started on Monday, runs to the end of December.

IAG announced plans for its first share buyback last month as it reported an 8.6 per cent rise in operating profit, to €2.5 billion, in 2016, despite a 1.3 per cent fall in revenue. A slump in sterling following the Brexit referendum in June had cost the group €460 million.