Alitalia Still Seeking Buyer As Thursday Deadline Looms
Tuesday September 23rd, 2008 / 18h27
ROME -(Dow Jones)- Troubled Alitalia SpA (AZA.MI) is still seeking for a buyer able to save it from liquidation, as a Thursday deadline set by Italy's aviation authority approaches. In a final effort to avoid the flagship airline's collapse, the Italian government met again Tuesday with Italian investor group Compagnia Aerea Italiana, which last week dropped its bid for Alitalia due to continued opposition from key unions. "The government has the duty to do everything it can," Transport minister Altero Matteoli said, stressing that "the situation is very serious." The Italian minister said that Alitalia's bankruptcy commission, which is currently soliciting alternative bids, has so far not received any other offers. In the latest attempt at finding a buyer, government-appointed administrator Augusto Fantozzi Tuesday published in the press an invitation for offers for all or part of Alitalia by Sept. 30, but his attempts at arousing interest from foreign airlines like Air France (3112.FR), Deutsche Lufthansa (LHA.XE) and British Airways (BAY.LN) have come to nothing at present. Labor Minister Maurizio Sacconi said Tuesday that Lufthansa isn't interested in a direct bid for Alitalia and denied talks of negotiations between Italy and Germany over a possible Lufthansa bid. CAI officially dropped its bid for Alitalia Monday, after Italy's fragmented unions failed to reach an agreement on its rescue plan, which included layoffs and wage cuts. Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi - who made Alitalia's rescue one of his key electoral pledges - has said that Alitalia's only hope is if CAI comes back to the negotiating table. With the airline's future still unclear, Berlusconi delayed his departure to New York for the U.N. General Assembly, where is he is scheduled to speak Thursday. Alitalia would be forced to ground its planes by Sept. 30 unless it gets bids in a new public tender that was officially restarted Monday. Interested parties have until noon local time Sept. 30 to present bids in the auction. The latest auction marks the third attempt by the Italian government to sell the flag carrier in nearly two years. Liquidation would severely disrupt travel in Italy and leave Alitalia's nearly 20,000 employees without jobs. -By Giada Zampano, Dow Jones Newswires; +39 06 69766920; giada.zampano@dowjones.com (Sofia Celeste and Guglielmo Valia contributed to this report) Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=mxZ09luYJZP8Iqr2QrN8MA%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
