But who will ultimately buy part of ITA Airways, the Italian national carrier born from the ashes of Alitalia?
Confusion has reigned for several months, particularly due to the change of government in the country.
Thus, Lufthansa said that it was still interested in taking control of the company, despite the abandonment of its Swiss partner MSC, with whom it had made a joint offer in January, its CEO said on Wednesday.
Such an operation “would open up new perspectives not only for Lufthansa, but also for ITA,” said Carsten Spohr, in an interview with the German newspaper. Die Zeit.
“Speak only when appropriate”
“We want and must be even more European. It is no secret that Italy is one of the most important markets for us”, she explained.
However, he did not want to comment on the progress of talks with the Italian state about this takeover. “There is only one rule in business: only talk about buying or selling at the right time,” he said.
Remember that the previous government of Mario Draghi, however, had selected at the end of August the competing offer of 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 Certares, paving the way for the return of Lufthansa and MSC.
The German carrier, whose offer with MSC had been initially scrapped, has also gained access to ITA Airways’ data room, a sort of step during the formulation of a bid. On the other hand, rumors of a partnership with the incumbent rail operator (FS) no longer seem to be on the agenda.
Delay
A favorite time, the model proposed by Certares was no longer unanimous with Air France which would not invest directly in the capital of ITA, content to be a business partner. Insufficient weight for opponents of this proposal.
However, the game appears to be open again as authorities are also looking into a competing offer from Certares.
These prevarications do not help the Italian company that continues to lose money and therefore value. At the beginning of November, the Italian State gave the green light to a new injection of 400 million euros of public funds into the company.
And Brussels had authorized public aid of 1,350 million euros in September 2021, as long as it ends up flying on its own in the long term. Which at the moment still seems like a distant prospect.
Source: BFM TV
