Berlin (Reuters) – Lufthansa said on Friday it was still interested in buying Italian airline ITA Airways, despite reports that its partner in a possible deal had pulled out.
A spokesperson for the German airline, however, declined to comment on reports that Lufthansa now has access to ITA Airways’ financial data (‘data room’).
Last August, the Italian authorities selected a group of investors led by the American fund Certares, and supported by the companies Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines Inc, to enter into exclusive negotiations to sell a majority stake in ITA Airways.
However, the exclusivity period expired in October without a deal, allowing Lufthansa and its partner shipping group MSC to get back in the running.
But according to Swiss magazine Travel Inside, an MSC executive told investors last week that MSC was no longer interested in ITA Airways.
MSC did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
According to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, the Italian Treasury gave Lufthansa access to ITA Airways’ data room, adding that MSC did not go there.
The Italian Treasury did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to a source familiar with the matter, the Certares fund has not had contact with ITA Airways and the Treasury since the end of October.
(Report Klaus Lauer in Berlin and Elisa Anzolin in Milan, French version by Matthieu Protard, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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