Turn in the sale of Ita., the airline born on the ruins of Alitalia. Contrary to expectations, the Treasury, which is its shareholder, chose the consortium formed by Centares, Air France and Delta which therefore beat the competition from MSC Group and Lufthansa which until days ago were given as favourites.
The announcement of the Mef
For the sale of Ita “it will be started today an exclusive negotiation with the consortium formed by Certares Management LLC, Delta Airlines Inc. and Air France-KLM SA, whose offer was deemed more responsive to the objectives set”, announced the Ministry of Economy in a note.
“At the conclusion of the exclusive negotiation, we will proceed with the signing of binding agreements only in the presence of content that is fully satisfactory for the public shareholder”, reads the note from the Treasury.
40-45% of the shares of Ita to the Treasury
What tipped the balance in favor of the winning consortium was the willingness of Centares-Air France-Delta to leave a 40-45% share to the Ministry of Economy of the company born from the ashes of Alitalia which would guarantee our country a greater margin of action on the future of society. Not only that, if the Italian State wants to sell, it will be free to do so at an already established price. The MEF will also have two seats out of the five on the board of directors and the possibility of appointing the president.
On the other hand however, MSc and Lufthansa they had "granted" only 20% to the Mef, intending to take over 80% of the company.
“From our point of view, our joint offer with MSC was and continues to be the best solution for ITA. We take note of the Government's decision Italian to take a path that allows greater influence of the state and does not envisage a complete privatization of Ita”, reads a note from Lufthansa.
Based on expectations, therefore, once the sale is completed, Air France should hold 9,9% of the shares of Ita, Delta 4%, Centers 41,1%.
The fate of Ita in the hands of the new government?
The outgoing government now finds itself at a crossroads: close the game before the elections or leave the ball in the hands of the new government. There are therefore two hypotheses in the field: concluding the negotiation within two weeks and signing a non-binding agreement, leaving the final decision in the hands of the new government which could also blow everything up (Giorgia Meloni has repeatedly tried to curb) or sign a preliminary. In this case, the agreement would be binding and, if canceled by the new Executive who will leave the polls on September 25, could lead to the payment of millionaire penalties for Italy.
