Swiss shipping giant MSC announced on Monday that it would abandon the acquisition of ITA Airways, the Italian public airline for which it had made an offer in January, along with the German group Lufthansa.
Following an initial offer in January, MSC and Lufthansa had proposed in August to pay 850 million euros for 80% of ITA, leaving the Italian state with just a 20% stake. The quota reserved for MSC had been 60%. The Swiss shipowner had synergies in the transport of goods and passengers.
World leader in maritime transport
The group founded by the Italian Gianluigi Aponte and of which MSC Cruises is a member is a world leader in maritime transport.
The previous government of Mario Draghi had dealt a setback to the MSC-Lufthansa pairing by selecting at the end of August the competing offer from the US investment fund Certares, associated with Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines, with a view to opening exclusive negotiations . Then the new Economy Minister, Giancarlo Giorgetti, announced at the end of October his decision not to renew the exclusivity for negotiations with the Certares-led consortium, paving the way for the return of Lufthansa and MSC.
Lufthansa still interested in early November
The German airline giant said in early November that it “is still interested in a real privatization of the airline.”
Lufthansa has always said it favors a full privatization of the Italian company while Mario Draghi’s government had opted to maintain significant public participation. The Italian Ministry of the Economy, a 100% shareholder of the company born from the ashes of Altitalia, has just granted Lufthansa new access to financial information (“dataroom”) of ITA Airways, the Corriere della newspaper reported on Friday.
Consulted by AFP, Lufthansa did not want to comment, as did the Ministry of Economy.
According to Corriere della Serathe new government of Giorgia Meloni plans to sell 65 to 70% of the capital of ITA Airways, leaving the remaining 30 to 35% in the hands of the Italian State.
Source: BFM TV
