Germany's Condor attracts high level of takeover interest

BERLIN (Reuters) - Thomas Cook's German airline Condor has drawn substantial interest from potential suitors, the group said on Tuesday, two months after its parent collapsed.

Unlike Thomas Cook, Condor received a lifeline from Germany in the form of a 380 million euro (326.58 million pounds) bridging loan and filed for investor protection proceedings, which requires that a company is not yet insolvent and can be saved.

Condor has remained profitable but signalled that an ownership change was likely, adding it was open to interest from rivals and private equity.

"A structured bidding process shows a high level of interest from strategic and financial investors in a takeover of Condor," the group said in a statement, adding that earnings before interest and tax in the year to Sept. 30 rose by about a third to 57 million euros.

(Reporting by Klaus Lauer; Writing by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Michelle Martin)