Starting today, Wednesday 18 January, in correspondence with the closure of the data room, the presentation of Lufthansa’s offer for the acquisition of a minority stake in Ita Airways is expected. The entry of the German group will take place through an increase of reserved capital, the offer could indicate the percentage – we are talking about 35-40% – but not yet the amount of the investment. The purchase price will be defined on the basis of the value of Ita’s shareholders’ equity, as resulting from the financial statements, interim financial reports and year-end estimates.
The next steps
Lufthansa is the only entity that has had access to the data room, so it seems excluded that other offers could arrive, even if in recent days there had been rumors of a possible interest from Air France which however did not materialise, Received the offer, the Mef will be able to initiate exclusive negotiations to arrive at the signing of a Memorandum of undestanding. But for the closing of the operation, the approval of the European Antitrust is required, therefore it will take about another 4-5 months.
The hypothesis
According to some rumors, net worth at the end of last year stood at 550 million, discounting the 400 million of public resources paid by the MEF, with the green light from the European Commission. By March 2023, a final injection of public resources, equal to 250 million, will be possible. According to what was reported by the Bloomberg agency, Lufthansa is considering an outlay of up to 350 million euros for an initial 40% stake, therefore well beyond the previously leaked hypothesis of 200-240 million for 35-40% of the company. There will be an option to be exercised at a later time for the purchase of the remaining part of the capital held by the MEF
Lufthansa entered the data room in November
Everything is ready, therefore, for the arrival of the offer between Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Lufthansa entered the data room in November, following the decision by Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti last October 31 not to extend the exclusive deal with Certares, the US fund chosen by the previous government. The expert sessions with the German managers, led by Joerg Eberhart, Lufthansa’s Head of Strategy, were held until Christmas in the Fiumicino headquarters of Ita.
The guarantees required by the German company
in recent days there has been talk of guarantees that Lufthansa would have requested such as that of being able to obtain the option of being able to withdraw from a complete acquisition in the event that the company does not work. But the offer will not contain the request for these guarantees, if anything when the contract with the shareholders’ agreements is drawn up, the parties will be able to discuss including them.
The same goes for the labor lawsuits brought against Ita by the former employees of the old Alitalia now on layoffs. If the court were to agree with the more than 1,140 employees, acknowledging the business continuity (it should be remembered that to authorize the birth of Ita the European Union has set the condition of business discontinuity) with respect to the former national airline in liquidation and reinstating, therefore, in Italy these workers, Lufthansa could ask for guarantees not to take charge of them.