Italy accepts the Certares/Air France-KLM/Delta offer for a stake in ITA Airways | Photo credits: Air France-KLM
MILAN, Aug 31 (Reuters) – The Italian government has chosen the consortium formed by the investment fund Certares and the airlines Air France-KLM and Delta to enter into exclusive negotiations for a majority stake in the company ITA Airways (formerly Alitalia), announced the Italian Treasury on Wednesday in a press release.
Italy’s new national airline, which officially replaced Alitalia last October, had been the subject of a competing bid from German carrier Lufthansa, associated with shipping giant MSC. (Report by Francesco Zecchini and Giuseppe Fonte, French version by Myriam Rivet, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)