Air France to submit bid for Alitalia
PARIS: Air France-KLM is expected to formally submit a bid Friday for struggling Alitalia, despite union resistance and an upcoming Italian election that could threaten the deal.
The French-Dutch airline said Monday it would submit its bid to buy a majority stake in the flagship Italian carrier on Friday. Air France officials said the offer, which is conditional on Italian union approval, could come anytime before midnight.
Alitalia SpA shares dropped Friday, apparently on expectations that the value of the offer could be lower than initially proposed. After a sharp morning decline, the shares were trading down 3.8 percent in the afternoon, at 55 euro cents.
Air France-KLM shares were up 3.8 percent to \16.40, or $25.54 in Paris afternoon trading.
The bid comes as Italy awaits elections April 13-14 that could bring conservative Silvio Berlusconi back to power, replacing the center-left government that negotiated the Air France-KLM takeover deal. Berlusconi has voiced opposition to downsizing Milans Malpensa hub as part of a sale to the Franco-Dutch airline.
Air France-KLM has said it would wait for a new Italian government, which controls Alitalia with a 50 percent stake, to be formed after the elections before finalizing any deal.
Alitalia unions have so far been split on the Air France-KLM offer, with those representing pilots and cabin crew broadly in favor, and those representing the airlines loss-making ground services business generally against.
Air France-KLM Chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta is expected to fly to Rome on Wednesday to meet with Alitalias labor unions, La Repubblica reported in its Friday Internet edition.
Alitalias board was to meet Saturday to examine progress in talks on the sale, as well as short-term financing needs for the cash-strapped airline.
Air France-KLM earlier proposed injecting \750 million (US$1.15 billion) into Alitalia through a capital increase.
La Repubblica said the bid may come short of the initial offer of 35 euro cents for each Alitalia share, and will leave the Italian government a 2 percent stake in the airline against the 3 percent originally offered. The paper said Alitalias work force is expected to be slashed by 4,000 to 13,000 under the offer.
