The agreement is there. The signature will arrive “soon”
Five months were not enough to sign the agreement which provides for the transfer of 41% of Ita from the Treasury to the German Lufthansa. From the Treasury they let it be known that the signature on the contract with the Germans should arrive ad hours, while we are not yet “aware of the closing date”. Also because, as the CEO of Lufthansa said, Carsten Spohr, the group “must make sure that they don’t overpay”. But he expects to close the deal by the end of the year. It could not be otherwise given that the green light from the Court of Auditors and the European Antitrust is needed. And here perhaps there may be some problem on the topic of slots, the timetable windows of Alitalia flights transferred to Italy.
The crux is the slots
This is a point particularly dear to the Germans. Slots are in fact the real capital of Ita. Only those of Linate are estimated to have a value between 700 and 800 million. Ita acquired them from the former Alitalia. However, according to Cub Transportation, there’s a problem. “Community regulations provide that the passage of slots from one company to another can only take place if the slots are an integral part of a company or a functionally autonomous business branch and in operational continuity” explains Antonio Amoroso, national manager Cub Transportation.
“The passage to Ita, according to the Government, ENAC, then the MIT, the MEF and the Mise, however, it did not take the form of a sale of a business unit, so much so that there are over 1,300 Alitalia employees who appealed against the failure in Italy pursuant to article 2112 of the Civil Code,” continued the trade unionist. The same one he asked for Court of Auditors and the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office to see clearly in the collaboration between Ita and True Italia Experience.
“ With Ita the slots have passed, but not the staff. So I wonder how it is possible that the passage of slots without the sale of a business branch has been authorized as required by European law?” asks Amoroso. “Of the two, only one is valid: either individual goods passed and therefore the slots could not pass or a company branch passed and, therefore, the slots could pass from Alitalia to Ita but the latter had to hire the personnel left behind home”. In total 4 thousand people. It is no coincidence that the agreement with Lufthansa, announced yesterday, speaks of a situation fully operational for Ita with 94 aircraft and 5,500 employees.
The operation is conditional on the green light from Brussels
The sale must in fact receive the ok from the Court of Auditors and from the European Antitrust. Not a small topic given that Lufthansa dominates the market of the Old Continent. But most of all the regulators will also have to ascertain whether there has been a transfer of company branch and should they find that this has happened, they would automatically agree with the workers in the dispute. Hence in part the impasse on the signature.
On the subject of slots, “the lawyers of Cub Trasporti, in addition to having filed hundreds of appeals to protect workers, contesting the lack of recruitment in Italy, they will shortly present an appeal to the European Commission, so that light can be shed on this matter which must be remedied with the hiring of AZ personnel who have been excluded from a selection made without objective and, in any case, anything but transparent criteria” concludes Amoroso.
Formally Lufthansa has announced that we are almost there
To close the game, the German carrier will put 325 million on the plate via a capital increase. It being understood that for now there is only a non-binding agreement. Something similar to what presented by Kkr or Cdp-Macquarie for Tim for several months now.
The next step, once the signature has taken place, envisages that the Treasury then transfers the remaining quota for a figure that will be definitive according to the results. “We cannot be forced to take over the entire company until all objectives have been achieved” as he clarified Spohr. Translated: not before Ita becomes profitable again. Meanwhile the ministry led by Giancarlo Giorgetti has committed to a new recapitalization of 250 millionthe last tranche of the 1.35 billion authorized by Brussels.
Yet another before giving away the company born on the ashes of Alitalia. On balance therefore, if everything goes smoothly, 75 million will end up in the public coffers. Little or nothing if we consider that 1.350 billion were spent to get Ita off the ground. Not to mention the approximately 14 billion in public money to support Alitalia over the last 45 years. And without counting the social safety nets used like an ATM without being able to relaunch the national airline. The one that, in miniature, once useful will pass into German hands.