Air One renews interest in Alitalia after auction failure
Published July 26th, 2007
Shares in Alitalia surged Thursday, lifted by reports that private airline Air One is ready to make a new offer for Italy’s ailing flagship carrier.
Alitalia, whose shares have lost nearly 30 per cent of their value since the beginning of the year, were up nearly 4 per cent on the Milan stock exchange by mid morning, rebounding from Wednesday’s drop of 1.76 per cent.
Investors were banking on the fact that the Treasury will relax the conditions attached to the sale of its 49.9 per cent stake in the company. Stringent conditions were blamed for the failure of an auction that saw all potential buyers withdraw their bids last week.
Among them Air One, whose head Carlo Toto said Wednesday he was ready to submit a new binding offer for the purchase of Alitalia, ‘as long as some of the contractual conditions formulated for the auction are revised.’
Other potential buyers reportedly interested in opening direct negotiations with the Treasury include US investors Texas Pacific Group (TPG) and Air France-KLM, which already owns a 2 per cent stake in Alitalia.
Officials said the government still wants to complete the privatization of the loss-making company, in spite of the auction’s failure.
Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa was expected to inform parliament about the Treasury’s next moves during a hearing taking place later on Thursday.
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