Italian government begins negotiations with Lufthansa to sell part of ITA

The Ministry of Economy and Finance or Mef of Italy today started negotiations for the German group Lufthansa to acquire a stake in ITA Airways, the Italian airline born in 2021 from the liquidation of the old Alitalia and whose owner is the Italian Government.

“The Mef signed this afternoon the letter of intent from Deutsche Lufthansa AG to acquire a minority stake in Ita Airways. The document is preparatory to the opening of the private negotiation between the parties. No further details about the ongoing discussion will be revealed.”, the ministry said in a statement.

Lufthansa last week submitted an offer to acquire a minority stake in Ita Airways.

In its letter, the German group assured that Italy “represents the most important market outside the domestic and United States” but did not detail the percentage of ITA Airways for which he would be interested, although the Italian press affirms that it is about 40% of the airline.

“The will to integrate ITA Airways lies in the country’s strong exchange worldwide, through business and private trips; in its strong export-oriented economy and in being one of the most attractive places for European tourism”, stated in a note the German airline, considered the third most important in the world by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

With the signing of the memorandum, the company begins an exclusive negotiation period with the Government in which it will agree on the “possible capital investment, the commercial and operational integration of ITA into the Lufthansa Group and the synergies that will result from this”, he indicated.

Ita Airways, with the Italian Ministry of the Economy as the sole shareholder, was founded in October 2021 as an independent airline from its predecessor, Alitalia, but with a smaller size, and the Italian government has since been looking for a buyer for it.

Earlier this month, the Air France-KLM group refused to submit an offer after considering the possible acquisition of the company for several months.

Last November, the Italian-Swiss shipping group MSC also backtracked on its proposal to participate in the privatization of ITA Airways, in an operation that would take over 80% of the company and leave the remaining 20% ​​for Lufthansa.

Earlier, the Italian Executive interrupted exclusive negotiations with a consortium made up of the US fund Certares and the airlines Delta and Air France.

Source: EFE