The future of Ita Airways could be outlined soon. The offers, revised and refined, of the two consortiums in the race to acquire the majority of the Italian flag carrier, MSC and Lufthansa on the one hand, the Certares fund with Air France-KLM and Delta Airlines on the other, were expected in the evening at Mef , with the deadline set at midnight on Monday 22 August.
Now the focus of the game passes to the Treasury, which will open the envelopes to examine them and express an opinion before the decisive step: the final decision of Palazzo Chigi if and with whom to negotiate exclusively. It goes without saying that the hypothesis remains that even these offers can be considered unsatisfactory. Shares, governance, routes, investments: the game is played on many levels, with the last few weeks full of contacts between the Treasury advisors and the contenders, committed to meeting the requests of the Ministry of Economy, to make their offers fully adhering to the framework outlined by the Prime Ministerial Decree of last February, which gave way to privatization. At the top of the findings of via XX Settembre is governance, in particular the powers that the ministry would have over strategic choices, management and employment levels.
Ita Airways, the government relaunches
giuliano balestreri
Precisely on this front, among the latest news, there is the indiscretion on the Certares-Delta-Air France consortium whose offer could contain a greater role for the Mef, with a share and a package of voting rights exceeding 40% . In addition, the consortium would not exclude the possibility of investing in Ita in the future. For its part, Lufthansa, which in recent weeks has made it known that it is in contact with the Italian government, would have worked, in particular, on the issues concerning the right of veto and the appointment of the president. At present the tender is between two offers formulated as follows: MSC and Lufthansa would put about 850 million on the plate for 80% of the company (60% in the hands of MSC, 20% in Lufthansa and 20% in Mef). On the other hand, the US fund Certares would offer 600 million for 60% of the company, with the remaining 40% in the hands of the Mef, while Air France-KLM and Delta Airlines would be commercial partners. The roadmap is also dictated by the approaching elections with the attached risk, feared by the unions, that the issue could end up in the “meat grinder” of the electoral campaign. And while the will of the Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, not to leave the dossier as an inheritance to the next executive, a new hypothesis has emerged from the Brothers of Italy on the future of the Italian flag carrier: the stop to the sale and the maintenance in public hands. A possibility that alarms the trade unions, which push for the finalization of the negotiation, so as to guarantee Ita an industrial development that does not allow the repetition of the Alitalia parable. The expansion of sales times worries the social partners above all for the repercussions on work, with an uncertainty that weighs not only on the shoulders of the direct workers of the company, but also on maintenance and handling.