LSG Asia Gmbh, a subsidiary of the German airline Lufthansa, has bought out the shareholding of Mars Restaurants in their joint venture LSG Sky Chefs Pvt. Ltd, an air catering company.

LSG Sky Chefs is now a 100 per cent subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group, a top company executive said on Wednesday.

"We are open about exploring possibilities and we may even consider expanding LSG Sky Chefs' operations in India," Manfred Reimer, vice-president Asia & Pacific Lufthansa, said. The company's objective is to establish a world-class air-catering unit in the country.

LSG Sky Chefs, set up last year, is currently operating out of Bangalore. The present paid-up capital of the unit is Rs 7.6 crore (Rs 76 million).

In the previous joint venture, LSG Asia had an 85 per cent stake, while Mars Restaurants held the balance.

The JV had a 'put option' whereby Mars Restaurants could sell its shares and LSG Asia was obliged to buy them.

Lufthansa's move comes close on the heels of Singapore Airline Terminal Services, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, setting up an air catering unit with Indian Hotels Company , the Tata Group's hotel flagship.

Lufthansa is also exploring possibilities of expanding its other businesses in India as well.

The other Lufthansa subsidiary's functioning in India are RDM Reservation Data Maintenance, which is into IT services and Lufthansa Cargo. The airline is also interested in ground handling services in the country.

As far as introducing additional frequencies is concerned Reimer said that a new round of bilaterals with the Indian government is slated for this year.

Reimer said that Lufthansa would be keen to increase frequencies from Delhi and Mumbai. He added that Hyderabad was a passenger destination that the airlines would like to add to its roster.

Lufthansa offers 20 weekly flights to New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. This would be increased to 23 flights from April 2003 with the introduction of three additional flights to Chennai.