The board of Alitalia deems a consortium led by veteran Italian business lawyer Antonio Baldassarre incompatible with its plan to sell a controlling stake in the airline.
As a result, Alitalia will no longer take the time to assess the financial requirements that might be presented by the group in the future.
The airline said the group of investors led by Baldassarre so far hadn't provided Alitalia with any of the financial requirements necessary to bid for a stake in the airline. Alitalia said the group told the airline there would be further delays in presenting the basic elements necessary to take part in the deal.
Alitalia said it considers the consortium no longer compatible with its own sale agenda.
Alitalia is scheduled to submit the name of its preferred buyer to Italian Treasury officials by November 15, after coming out with a shortlist of six candidates that included the Baldassarre consortium.
The other potential buyers include US private equity firm TPG, privately controlled Italian airline Air One, Russian carrier Aeroflot-Russian Airlines, Air France-KLM and Deutsche Lufthansa.
In late October, TPG said it wasn't able, at that time, to form an Italian consortium to bid for the state's 49.9 percent stake in the airline.
|
