The Italian State gave the green light on Tuesday to a new injection of 400 million euros of public funds to the company ITA Airways, born from the ashes of Alitala, the day after the resignation of its president, AFP learned from a government source .
The funds must reach the ITA coffers before the end of the month, according to this decision made during an extraordinary general assembly of advisers to the Ministry of Economy, a 100% shareholder of the company.
Brussels had given the green light in September 2021 for the ITA to take off and authorized 1,350 million euros in public funds, provided that it ends up flying on its own in the long term.
Denial
Disavowed twice by the State, which deprived him of his operational powers, the president of ITA Airways, Alfredo Altavilla, resigned from his position on Monday night, in the midst of negotiations for the sale of the public company.
Mr. Altavilla had been accused of obstructing the sale of ITA Airways to the US investment fund Certares, associated with Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines.
This former manager for Europe of Fiat never hid his preference for the competing offer presented by Lufthansa and the Italian-Swiss shipowner MSC.
The previous government of Mario Draghi announced in August that it had accepted Certares’ offer to take over ITA Airways with a view to opening exclusive negotiations.
Already more than one billion euros injected
After an initial injection of 700 million euros of public funds in 2021, ITA Airways was to benefit from a new tranche of 400 million euros in 2022, approved on Tuesday, and another in 2023.
If the negotiations are successful, it is the buyer who must ensure the recapitalization of the young airline that took off on October 15, 2021.
Over the years, the Italian State had spent more than 13,000 million euros to try, in vain, to refloat its predecessor, Alitalia.
The current board of directors of ITA Airways will remain in office until the ordinary general meeting scheduled for next Tuesday, in which, in particular, the succession of Mr. Altavilla will have to be considered.
On the side of the takeover of the company by a private actor, doubts multiply. In early November, the new Italian Economy Minister, Giancarlo Giorgetti, announced his decision not to renew the exclusivity period for negotiations with the US investment fund Certares, Air France-KLM and Delta.
If this term He was known, it is the continuation of the ministry’s press release that concerns those concerned. It can be read that “discussions continued” for a “possible agreement on a transfer”. Nothing is said about the consortium’s offer, or about the rest of the process, to suggest a lack of progress in these negotiations.
Air France-KLM waiting
What adds to Air France-KLM in the expectation. The company says it takes “note of the end of the exclusivity period. The group is examining its options regarding the Italian air transport market and is awaiting further information from the Italian State.”
Why these doubts? Some observers point out the victory in the last legislative elections of the far-right Italian Brothers party, whose leader Giorgia Meloni, who became president of the Council, repeatedly expressed her opposition to this privatization.
Just before the elections, he had also warned that “everything can change and the reactivation of our national airline” will be the responsibility “of whoever governs.” He also warned Mario Draghi (his predecessor) not to make a “hasty” decision on the sale of the public company.
The model proposed by Certares is not unanimous either. The consortium is willing to pay 350 million euros to acquire a 50% stake plus one share in ITA and subsequently invest 600 million euros, according to the Italian press. But Air France would not invest directly in the capital of the Italian airline, content for the time being with being a commercial partner. Insufficient weight for opponents of this proposal.
The return of Lufthansa and MSC?
Air France-KLM has its hands tied by the conditions requested by the European Commission in exchange for public aid received to overcome the Covid-19 crisis, which prevent it from acquiring a stake of more than 10% in a company in the sector.
The Franco-Dutch group had already had plans for Alitalia in the past. In 2009, it acquired a 25% stake in the Italian company before gradually divesting it starting in 2013.
What to do so that Lufthansa and its partner MSC return to the load? The German company is not only not subject to this restriction, but also, with MSC, it had proposed at the end of August to pay 850 million euros for 80% of ITA.
Source: BFM TV
