Commission approves joint venture between EDS and Lufthansa The European Commission approved on 16 May 1995 the creation of a joint venture between EDS and Lufthansa in the field of information technology (IT) services for the airline and travel industry. EDS Holding GmbH, an indirect subsidiary of General Motors, has acquired a 25% s... The European Commission approved on 16 May 1995 the creation of a joint venture between EDS and Lufthansa in the field of information technology (IT) services for the airline and travel industry. EDS Holding GmbH, an indirect subsidiary of General Motors, has acquired a 25% stake in Lufthansa Systems GmbH, a subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the German air transport company. EDS provides IT services, i.e. systems management, systems integration and consulting services. The joint venture, which will be jointly controlled by its parent companies, will provide IT services tailored to the requirements of the airline and other travel industries. While Lufthansa will remain its main customer for some years, it is expected that the joint venture will play an active role in the new developing market for IT services. The IT services market, which appears to be at least European in scope, is currently fragmented in nature with a number of actual and potential players in this field. In addition, the market share of the joint venture is likely to be small regardless of how the product market is precisely defined. EDS's market share would in many cases therefore be distinctly below 5% and only in systems management would it achieve some 10% in Europe.
