Lufthansa e Msc there are. The deadlines for submitting binding offers to the Ministry of Economy and Finance expired at midnight Ita Airways. Lufthansa has confirmed that it has presented its proposal for a majority stake in Ita Airways together with MSC. Also expected is that of the US Certares fund, which with Lufthansa-MSC had entered the data room of the newco. The data room, that is the virtual room with all the documents, accounts and confidential data of the company, was closed at 6pm yesterday.
Of the two proposals, the strongest, both from an industrial and financial point of view, should be that of Aponte Group with the giant Lufthansa, the two companies had anticipated everyone by presenting an expression of interest last January and also asking for an exclusive period of 90 days. The figure that was circulating at the time was between 1.2 and 1.5 billion euros for a majority stake in the new national airline. Struggles puts on the plate a partnership, but only commercial and without a shareholding in the capital, with Air France-Klm e Delta Airlines. The French company, in fact, cannot invest if it does not first return the public funds received to face the Covid pandemic to the Paris government. The CEO of Aeroporti di Roma spoke about the matter, Marco Troncone, according to which Lufthansa would be Ita’s “ideal” partner and would allow Fiumicino to grow further. “We positively consider Lufthansa’s business model, the German company has very extensive experience in the management of carriers that have emerged from a crisis and in the management of multiple hubs”, explained Adr’s CEO in an interview with Bloomberg a few days ago. . Even the CEO of the German company, Carsten Spohr, has always said that Lufthansa is the “right” partner for Ita, explaining that with them Fiumicino would become the fifth hub of the Group after Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich and Vienna.
Once the offers have been received, the Mef, sole shareholder of the newco, will make its own assessments “to choose the ideal partner of the company”, but will also choose the most valid proposal for the country “in broad terms and not just financial”, as underlined by the Minister of Economy, Daniele Franco, and noting that “an important point is to have a company that stands up, that is part of a larger group that ensures connections and flights with the rest of the world“. The government aims to close the sale of Ita by the end of June; initially, the Mef will remain in the company with a minority stake which can then be sold at a later stage.