Company Watch - Alitalia.

Aug 20, 2007

Consortium consisting mainly of Italian financial groups and entrepreneurs has emerged as a possible bidder for Alitalia, Reuters reported. The new group has more than five Italian and foreign members representing both financial and corporate interests, according to an attorney representing it who declined to identify members. Apparently none participated in the recently failed auction set up by the government. The attorney said the consortium presented its interest to the Treasury but not to AZ. The government still wants to sell its 49.9% stake in the carrier but has transferred responsibility for locating a buyer to AZ management. Meanwhile, Alitalia's newly appointed Chairman Maurizio Prato indicated that Air France KLM is negotiating to increase its shareholding to 10% from 2%, La Stampa reported. Aug 14, 2007

Italian led group's emergence on the scene failed to prevent shares in Alitalia, worth about USD$1.5 billion on the market, from dipping 0.7 percent amid a broadly lower market. The group has presented its interest to the Italian Treasury, but has yet to do so directly with the airline, he said. It does not plan to cut jobs and would keep Alitalia's management Italian and widen its flight network, he said. That contrasts with the view of most industry analysts and experts, who say Alitalia needs a sharp restructuring with layoffs if it is to become profitable again. Aug 13, 2007

Italian-Led Group Wants To Buy Alitalia. A largely Italian consortium of financiers and entrepreneurs has expressed interest in buying ailing Italian airline Alitalia, which is struggling to find a buyer, the group's lawyer said on Friday. The previously unknown group joins a handful of companies who say they could consider buying the loss-making airline, though the Italian government's attempt to sell it through an auction failed last month when all bidders pulled out. Aug 13, 2007

Italy last month called off its seven month auction of the national airline after bidders pulled out citing restrictive conditions imposed on the sale, throwing the future of the airline into doubt. Alitalia's newly appointed chairman Maurizio Prato is expected to meet representatives of rival airlines Lufthansa and Air France-KLM in coming days to discuss whether they are interested in buying the airline, Italian media say. Air France-KLM, once considered the Italian carrier's most likely buyer, has repeatedly denied any interest in rescuing it now but said it would listen if approached. Lufthansa said last month it would be prepared to look at Alitalia if the conditions of a sale changed. All the final contenders in the failed auction -- Russian airline Aeroflot, US private equity firms MatlinPatterson and TPG and smaller Italian carrier Air One -- say they would be interested again if Italy relaxed the terms of the sale. Aug 13, 2007

Rome, which has a 49.9 percent stake in Alitalia, says it still wants to shed the stake but has handed responsibility for finding a buyer to Alitalia's management -- and it is unclear who, if anyone, is in the lead to buy it this time around. The new group has more than five Italian and foreign members that represent both financial and corporate interests, said its lawyer Antonio Baldassarre, a former chairman of Italy's constitutional court. He declined to identify the members, but said none of them had participated in the auction that collapsed. Aug 13, 2007

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