the offer of Certares and Air France retained, at the expense of MSC and Lufthansa
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The Italian Ministry of the Economy announced on Wednesday that it had favored this offer for the takeover of the public company with a view to the opening of exclusive negotiations.
The Italian Ministry of the Economy announced on Wednesday that it had accepted the offer of the American investment fund Certares, associated with Air France-KLM and Delta Airlines, for the takeover of the public company. ITA Airways with a view to opening exclusive negotiations. This surprise announcement is a setback for the Italian-Swiss shipowner MSC and its German ally Lufthansawhich were considered until now as favorites in the race to take over Alitalia’s successor.
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The successful offerwas judged to be the most consistent with the objectives setby the state, which owns 100% of the company, the ministry said in a press release, without revealing the amount of the proposal. “At the end of the exclusive negotiations, binding agreements will only be signed if their content is fully satisfactory for the public shareholder“, underlines the ministry. According to the daily Il Messaggero, the fund Certares, which specializes in tourism, has offered to buy nearly 56% of ITA for around 600 million euros. The Italian State would thus retain a 44% share and would have two seats out of the five that will be on the company’s future board of directors.
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Giorgia Meloni’s warning
MSC and Lufthansa had proposed at the end of August to pay 850 million euros for 80% of ITA, an offer revised downwards compared to a previous one of 1.3 to 1.4 billion euros made in January, due to the deterioration of the airline market expected after the summer. MSC and Lufthansa were aiming for shares of 60% and 20% respectively, according to a source familiar with the matter. Air France-KLM is, alongside the American Delta Air Lines, the commercial partner of Certares. The Franco-Dutch group had already had aims on Alitalia in the past. In 2009, he acquired a 25% share in the Italian company before gradually divesting from it from 2013.
Unlike Lufthansa, Air France-KLM has its hands tied by the conditions requested by the European Commission in return for the public aid received to overcome the Covid-19 crisis, preventing it from taking a stake of more than 10% in a company in the sector. The announcement of the opening of exclusive negotiations comes despite the warning issued in early August by Giorgia Meloni, president of the far-right Fratelli Italia party, who had urged outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi not to hasten a decision. From the legislative elections scheduled for September 25, “everything can change and the relaunch of our national airline“will be the responsibility” of the one who will govern“Warned Giorgia Meloni, who is aiming for the post of head of the Italian government.
‘Only way to survive’
For the heiress from Alitalia“a marriage is the only way to survive, alone she would be doomed to die definitively“Explained to AFP Andrea Giuricin, transport economist at Bicocca University in Milan. “Every day that passes, she loses money and sees her value reduced“, he notes. But the acquisition of ITA Airways “is not a guarantee for its survival“, because after a busy summer in airports, “many uncertainties hang over the European aviation sector in the fall, visibility is very limited“says Andrea Giuricin.
The publication of the bans will take place in a context of turbulence for the aviation sector, marked by soaring kerosene prices, the war in Ukraine, a shortage of personnel and the resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic. ITA was looking for partners in order to strengthen itself especially in the long-haul. The network of travel agencies controlled by Certares will notably enable it to establish itself further in the United States.
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