This marriage must take place. With all due respect to the Don Abbondios, there is the long-awaited '"yes" to the wedding between Ita and Lufthansa. After a weekend of intense negotiations, the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the German airspace giant signed at the last possible minute the agreement on the final plan then sent promptly to Brussels respecting the deadline set for 23 November 59th.
After the row that broke out at the beginning of last week over the Lufthansa's request for a price discount which had infuriated the Treasury – which had no intention of giving in to "blackmail" and "selling off" the new company – The Germans have given up on the race to the bottom.
“The economic conditions foreseen” in the Italian-German alliance contract signed in July 2023 “have not undergone any changes“, the Ministry of Economy and Finance specified in a note. Now “Approval is awaited with confidence final decision of the European Commission to proceed with the closing of the operation”, adds the Treasury. According to Ansa, the European antitrust would be ready to issue “a positive judgment” without further twists.
Ita-Lufthansa: what does the agreement include?
Lufthansa to pay 325 million euros to acquire 41% of Ita Airways. The parasocial agreements will still give control of the company to the German buyer, even if the Ministry of Economy will retain the majority of the shares. In a second tranche the German giant will be able to own the remaining 59% of the capital, mobilizing another 504 million. On the figure – equal to a total of 829 million – Lufthansa will not ask for any discount. A step back from last Monday's position that had led the Mef not to put its signature on the commercial contracts to be sent to the EU Antitrust.
Peace between Ita and Lufthansa
After the position taken by the Ministry of Economy, the Germans have therefore reversed course to save a strategic agreement. First, by reducing its demands on the price and asking, according to qualified sources cited by Ansa, a reduction of less than ten million. And then, according to the latest leaked indications, by giving up on deferring the purchase of 49% of Ita (the second installment of the investment) as hypothesized in recent days and on the price adjustment clause.
According to the Corriere della Sera, the rapprochement was only possible following a meeting — “political” and confidential — which was held on Wednesday at the Mef between Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti and Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr. The team that mended the rift was mainly the director general of the Department of Economy at the ministry and head of the subsidiaries, Marcello Sala. Shortly after 23pm, the package of commitments (the so-called remedies) for the protection of the balance of the skies arrived on the table of the EU antitrust.
As previously announced, the documents also include the contracts signed by rival carriers for ensure competition in the market segments considered critical. The competitors would be easyJet for the Milan-Linate hub and the ten short-haul routes between Italy and central Europe (with destinations Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria) and Air France and IAG (parent company of British Airways and Iberia) for the long transoceanic connections between Fiumicino and Washington, San Francisco and Toronto. All solutions viewed favorably by the EU.
Now the ball is in the court of theEU antitrust led by Margrethe Vestager which should take a few days to evaluate the package and grant, by the end of November, the final green light. Then it will be time for the closing with the entry of Lufthansa into the board of Ita. The alliance should take off "at the beginning of 2025".
