Alitalia and Air France are making progress towards their long-planned share exchange. Correspondence between Alitalia's managing director, Francesco Mengozzi, and Air France's president, Jean-Cyril Spinetta, means the swap between the two SkyTeam partners should be completed by the end of the year, according to Alitalia president Fausto Cereti. The airlines will now only exchange 2% of their shares, however, not 3%as previously stated.
Given the different capitalisation of the two airlines - c2.09 billion ($2.06 billion) for Air France and c929 million for Alitalia at current stock exchange prices - a share swap on equal terms seems unlikely. The preferred solution is believed to be an exchange of equal shares, with Alitalia making up the difference in cash. The other option, involving Air France acquiring a greater stake in Alitalia than vice versa, would not have pleased Alitalia shareholders.
Alitalia's financial adviser on the exchange is the Sanpaolo-Imi group, which holds 2.1% of Alitalia after buying the unsold 22% of an Alitalia capital increase which it guaranteed.
Source: Flight International
