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May 9, 2008 |
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ALITALIA SPA: Unicredit Denies Possible Bid With Lufthansa UniCredit S.p.A. has denied a report that it had contacts with Deutsche Lufthansa AG over a possible bid for the Italian government's 49.9% stake in Alitalia S.p.A. An Il Messaggero report said that UniCredit chief executive Alessandro Profumo had met with Lufthansa executive to discuss the German carrier's possible role in re-launching Alitalia. The report added that Lufthansa might acquire a stake in Alitalia if conditions are right. As reported in the TCR-Europe on March 12, 2008, Lufthansa Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber said the carriuer is not interested in acquiring Alitalia. Mr. Mayhuber stressed that though Lufthansa is planning to participate in mergers in Europe's airline industry, it is currently not eyeing Alitalia. About Alitalia Headquartered in Rome, Italy, Alitalia S.p.A. -- http://www.alitalia.it/ -- provides air travel services for passengers and air transport of cargo on national, international and inter-continental routes, including United States, Canada, Japan and Argentina. The Italian government owns 49.9% of Alitalia. Despite a EUR1.4 billion state-backed restructuring in 1997, Alitalia posted net losses of EUR256 million and EUR907 million in 2000 and 2001 respectively. Alitalia posted EUR93 million in net profits in 2002 after a EUR1.4 billion capital injection. The carrier booked annual net losses of EUR520 million in 2003, EUR813 million in 2004, EUR168 million in 2005, and EUR625.6 million in 2006. Italian Finance Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa had said that if the sale to Air France fails, Alitalia may seek protection from creditors and the government would appoint a special commissioner to initiate bankruptcy proceedings. |
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