Message: Aeroflot and Alitalia- News and THE BIGGER PICTURE
The initial order is great news! This may be of greater interest because of the ramifications which may be of a positive or negative nature. The buyer of Alitalia may decide to bring the eVU into its own network or not? Who is going to be Alitalia's buyer? And does this mean we initially are selling to Alitalia but then to an even bigger airline? There is a bigger picture to this news IMO.
Aeroflot joins bidding for Alitalia
Associated Press
MILAN — UniCredit SpA has recruited Russian airline OAO Aeroflot as a partner in the bank's bid to take over struggling Italian airline Alitalia-Linee Aeree Italiane SpA, a bank executive said Monday as the number of bidders narrowed to three.
Italy's Finance Ministry issued a statement saying that the U.S. asset management group Matlin Patterson Global Advisers LLC and TPG Capital LLP were pooling their bid and teaming up with the Italian investment bank Mediobanca SpA.
The third remaining bidder was AP Holding SpA, led by Air One chairman Carlo Toto, as Monday's deadline lapsed for new bidders to enter the field.
Investors cheered the formation of the group of bidders, and Alitalia shares closed up 5.6 per cent at 99 euro cents on the Milan stock exchange. Shares had been suspended earlier in the day pending the final bidders' list. Preliminary nonbinding offers are due by April 16.
Under terms of Unicredit's deal with Aeroflot, the Russian airline would be the majority partner in the final offer with a 95 per cent stake to Unicredit's 5 per cent, said Sergio Ermottoi, Unicredit's head of investment banking.
In Moscow, Aeroflot deputy general director Lev Koshlyakov confirmed the company's participation, but declined to comment further on the bid.
“We have made an expression of interest and sent our request to the Italian Ministry of Finance,” Mr. Koshlyakov told Associated Press.
Five bidders had entered the last phase of bidding, but Italian private equity fund Management & Capitali SpA stepped out of the process last Friday.
The Italian government, which controls a 49.9 per cent share of Alitalia, intends to sell at least a 39.9 per cent share to a buyer with a turnaround plan. Under the latest terms outlined by the government, bidders must guarantee Alitalia will retain an Italian identity for at least eight years and set out terms of a business plan to turn around the airline.
The government wants to complete the privatization by the end of June.
The ailing flagship Italian airline, which reported widening pretax losses in 2006 at €405-million, has been battered by high fuel costs, low-cost competition and strikes.
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Associated Press Writer Alex Nicholson in Moscow contributed to this report.
AP-ES-04-02-07 1307EDT
(Via Land-Line Feed)
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