Several interested parties are courting the Italian airline Ita. The German-Swiss duo of Lufthansa and the shipping company giant MSC have recently been given good chances. However, Rome decides to hold talks with the competition.
Lufthansa suffered a defeat in its takeover plans for the Italian state airline Ita Airways. The Ministry of Finance announced that it was not Lufthansa and its partner, the shipping company MSC, that should conduct exclusive negotiations from now on, but the investor Certares. The Americans, who work with Lufthansa rivals Delta and Air France-KLM, had also submitted a bid for privatization in Rome.
The Ministry of Finance announced that Certares' offer was more in line with the requirements formulated by the government in February for a takeover of the successor to the traditional company Alitalia. After negotiations with Certares, binding sales contracts will only be signed if the state is satisfied with the details, it said.
The MSC/Lufthansa duo was the favorite right up to the end. The container and cruise line and the German airline wanted to take over 80 percent of the shares in Ita for around 850 million euros, as reported by the media. As a result, Certares made an offer for around 55 percent of the shares. In contrast to MSC and Lufthansa, the Italian state is given more say in decisions.
