Surprise relaunch for Alitalia. According to the Financial Times, the American fund Cerberus has presented the commissioners with an offer to take over the entire company, after being excluded from the official auction "due to its too restrictive terms". Once the envelopes were opened and given that the proposals on the table – especially those of Lufthansa and Easyjet – envisaged the purchase only of parts of the company, Cerberus returned to the field.
The US speculative fund would be willing to invest between 100 and 400 million euros for 100% of Alitalia, ie both flight and ground operations. But there is one condition that should not be underestimated: Cerberus, which has been studying the company's accounting data for several months, wants to start a serious "restructuring" of the entire corporate perimeter.
After all, as Riccardo Gallo wrote on FIRSTonline, the company is already technically bankrupt: not even if it filled all the planes could it break even.
WHO IS CERBERUS: THE PRECEDER WITH AIR CANADA
Cerberus Capital Management is a New York-based private equity firm. Founded in 1960 by financier Steve Feinberg, its supermanagers include former US vice president Dan Quayle. At the beginning of the millennium, the fund saved Air Canada, entering the capital while the North American carrier was still in extraordinary administration with 13 billion in debt. The new ownership and the commissioners have cut the workforce by 24%, renegotiated the agreements with all the creditors, revised the salaries and pension fund of the employees. Eighteen months later, however, Air Canada emerged from Chapter 11 more streamlined, with only 5 billion exposure and with the accounts in order.
EMPLOYEES AND STATE IN THE CAPITAL
As regards the composition of the capital, continues FT, the fund could accept a shareholding from the employees and would also like the State to be a shareholder. The ultimate goal, said a source of the British financial newspaper, is "to keep the business together to save an Italian airline and not only choose the best assets".
PROBLEM: THE RACE IS ALREADY CLOSED
But the procedure for landing Cerberus in Alitalia will not be simple. The tender for the sale of the company is already closed and cannot be reopened. Seven offers arrived, none of which covered the entire perimeter of the company. The only two known are only those of Lufthansa and Easyjet, however only willing to take over part of the flight activities.
THE EXTENSION OF TERMS AND THE NEW STATE LOAN
Until the beginning of October it was expected that the commissioners would have until November 5 to choose the winning bid. Ultimately, however, the government decided to approve a six-month extension, moving the deadline to 30 April. The postponement serves to ease the pressure on the liquidators, who otherwise, having to close the games in less than a month, would have been forced to sell off the company.
Together with the extension, the Council of Ministers strengthened the bridging loan to the company, adding 300 million to the 600 already granted in the summer. A sum that should ensure the carrier at least another year of operation under the commissioner's management.
