Alitalia 51% stake could be sold to Lufthansa
Lufthansa [ETR:LHA] could buy a 51% stake in Alitalia, La Stampareported, citing an unnamed source.
If the Italian government wants to retain a majority stake, the German airline would be willing to acquire 49% of the shares, the report said.
Talks around a possible transaction will be held tomorrow, the Italian daily wrote, without elaborating.
After acquiring a stake in Alitalia, Lufthansa would focus its activities on the European market, whereas Air France-KLM [EPA:AF] together withDelta Air Lines [NYSE:DAL] - also a possible buyer - would concentrate more on the US and the North Atlantic route, the report said.
Easyjet has also shown an interest in Alitalia, but Air France-KLM and Delta appear to be the favoured suitors, La Stampa said. These companies could together buy a 40% equity stake in their Italian peer.
Earlier media reports have said that Italian state-owned railway company Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) could take a 25-30% stake in Alitalia, with the Treasury converting part of its EUR 900m bridge loan to Alitalia into a 15% equity stake. The remaining 10-15% of Alitalia would be acquired by another state-owned entity such as Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CdP).