Lufthansa may acquire stake in ITA Airways
2023.01.13 10:55
Lufthansa may acquire stake in ITA Airways
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – Three people who are familiar with the situation said on Friday that a bid from German airline Lufthansa for ITA Airways could come early next week. This would be an important step toward speeding up the complete privatization of Italy’s state-owned company.
The Italian government has had a hard time with the privatization of ITA, which officially takes over from Alitalia in 2021 and is losing money. In December, they passed a decree to sell a minority stake at first to make it easier to divest completely.
Two of the sources stated that potential bidders would no longer be able to access ITA’s financial data on January 18, adding that Lufthansa was the only credible potential bidder.
According to a government official, the new right-wing administration of Giorgia Meloni is confident that the deal will be completed before January 18.
Lufthansa didn’t say anything.
The government decree stipulated that another airline must acquire a majority stake in ITA following the privatization process’s conclusion, and that bidders could purchase stakes through one or more capital increases.
The value of ITA, which reported an operating loss of 170 million euros (183.62 million dollars) in the previous year, is estimated by industry sources to be around 500 million euros.
Lufthansa could initially acquire a 40% stake through a capital increase of between 300 million and 350 million euros, according to an anonymous source.
MSC announced in November that it was no longer interested in the transaction, after the German carrier had initially collaborated with the shipping group MSC to submit a bid for ITA.
Under a deal with the European Union, Rome could provide ITA with an additional 250 million euros this year. The previous government of Mario Draghi in Italy had pledged more than one billion euros for the institution.
