Poste Italiane is ready to invest €75m to help prevent heavily loss-making national airlineAlitalia from going bankrupt and could cooperate more closely with the airline in future.
The investment is part of a €500 million capital increase arranged at short notice by theItalian government and also involves a €75 million loan from the government, €150 million fromexisting Alitalia shareholders and €200 million in additional bank loans, according to news agencyreports.
Alitalia, now privately owned, faces spiralling losses and is reportedly in severe danger ofhaving to stop flying within days. Energy company Eni has threatened to stop fuel supplies to theairline in two days’ time unless it proves it can continue operations.
The Italian government said yesterday that it “welcomed the willingness” of state-ownedPoste Italiane to join in the capital increase “as an important industrial partner” on the basis ofa major restructuring of the airline with a new industrial plan. It stressed the strategicimportance of Alitalia for Italy as a whole.
The government also highlighted the potential business synergies between Alitalia and PosteItaliane. These included Mistral Air, the small passenger charter airline owned by the postaloperator, and in cargo, as part of e-commerce development plans, it said in an officialstatement. “The cooperation, including via shareholdings, between the sectors of postalservices, logistics and aviation can be seen in numerous European and international precedents, forexample in France and Germany,” the Italian government noted.
There has been speculation that the Air France/KLM group, which holds a 25% stake in the Italianairline, might be ready to increase its holding. The investment by Poste Italiane might helpencourage the French-Dutch airline to agree to invest more, according to Italian media reports.
The Alitalia board was due to meet again today (Friday) to discuss the situation.
