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* To decide by end-Aug whether to exercise option fortakeover
* Was initially due to decide by beginning of June
* Says needs time as Brussels airport restores operations (Adds comment from Lufthansa CEO, details on Brussels)
By Victoria Bryan
BERLIN, April 27 (Reuters) - Lufthansa is workingon bringing part-owned Brussels Airlines into its low-costairline Eurowings and will decide by the end of August whetherto exercise a call option to allow for a full takeover, it saidon Wednesday.
Lufthansa is back on the acquisition trail with a view toexpanding Eurowings, with sources having said it is also eyeingpartnerships or even takeovers of SAS and Condor, theGerman airline now owned by Thomas Cook Group.
Lufthansa sees Eurowings rivalling European budget carriersRyanair and easyJet, which are encroaching onits home market of Germany.
Brussels Airlines is attractive to Lufthansa because of itsroutes to Africa, where Lufthansa does not offer many flights,and thanks to its busy Brussels hub with passenger from Europeaninstitutions based there.
Lufthansa owns 45 percent of Brussels Airlines owner SNAirholding, which was created by a group of Belgian business andstate investors in 2002 as the successor to collapsed Belgiannational airline Sabena, and has a call option for the remaining55 percent.
Lufthansa said it is due to make a decision on whether toexercise the option by the beginning of June, but this deadlinehas now been extended to the end of August while BrusselsAirlines restores operations following the suicide bomb attacksat its hub in March.
"That is a major challenge under the current securityprovisions, and must now be the priority," Lufthansa ChiefExecutive Carsten Spohr said in a statement.
"And in view of this, we have agreed with Brussels Airlinesto give ourselves a further three months to conclude ournegotiations on the acquisition terms and devise the migrationconcept required."
Lufthansa is due to hold its annual shareholders meeting onThursday and will report first quarter results next week. (Editing by Ludwig Burger, Greg Mahlich)
