Rome: Italy’s loss-making flag carrier Alitalia is working on a final proposal to present to Etihad on Thursday in a push to lock in an investment by the Abu Dhabi-based airline, a person close to Alitalia shareholders said on Wednesday.
Underscoring the government’s need to seal a deal, the transport minister, the prime minister’s chief of staff, Alitalia’s senior management and major shareholders including top bank UniCredit met to discuss the issue on Wednesday at the prime minister’s office in Rome.
“Progress has been made, now we are working to prepare a response that Alitalia will give to Etihad tomorrow,” the person close to the airline’s shareholders said after the meeting.
Etihad’s plans to take a 49 per cent stake in Alitalia, which has made a profit only a few times in its 68-year history, has been held up by disagreements over Alitalia’s €800 million ($1.07 billion, Dh3.94 billion) debt pile, and plans for job cuts that have stoked outrage among Italian unions.
After seven months of talks about a tie-up, Etihad’s chief executive said earlier in July he expected to conclude the deal this month, but that the deadline could be extended if needed.
Also attending Wednesday’s meeting were the chief executive of Italy’s post office operator Poste Italiane and the chief financial officer of Italian motorway operator Atlantia , which owns a 7.4 per cent stake in the airline.
Poste Italiane has agreed to inject a further €65 million into Alitalia to help smooth the way towards a deal with Etihad, after investing €75 million last year as part of a government-engineered rescue package, sources said on Tuesday.
Atlantia’s chief executive said on Tuesday that Alitalia was “playing with fire” and said it was indispensable that the process be sped up this week.
