Rome airport shareholder Atlantia has declared that it is not prepared to participate in a consortium to bid for Alitalia because the right conditions have not been met.
Rome airport shareholder Atlantia has declared that it is not prepared to participate in a consortium to bid for Alitalia because the right conditions have not been met.
Atlantia had stated in mid-October that it was willing to discuss the development of a long-term business plan for Alitalia’s turnaround, and its potential involvement in an acquisition of the troubled Italian flag-carrier.
The acquisition would involve setting up a company, named Newco, along with a major airline which could provide commercial, operational and network experience.
But Atlantia, which holds nearly all of airports operator Aeroporti di Roma, put forward a number of conditions which, it said, needed to be satisfied before it could take part as a minority shareholder.
These included identifying a partner to take a substantial stake in Newco, and defining a business plan to which this partner would be prepared to commit.
Atlantia also said that agreements needed to be reached on the governing structure of the new company and other matters – such as Italian government support and European Commission approval for financing – needed to be resolved.
But the company, in a 19 November update, states that there has been a “lack of any significant developments” in relation to these various issues.
“As things stand, the conditions that need to be met in order for Atlantia to be able to take part in a consortium – set up to put together a binding offer for Alitalia – do not as yet exist,” it says.
But it adds that it remains “willing to engage” in the process of identifying an industrial partner and reaching agreement on a “solid” long-term business plan for the airline.
