Air France-KLM secretly meets ITA Airways in Rome - report

Rushed Rome asks ITA Airways bidders for better proposals

Italy has asked bidders vying for a majority stake in ITA Airways (AZ, Rome Fiumicino) to come up with better proposals as the government sees the current bids as insufficient, the country’s economy and finance minister, Daniele Franco, said during a news conference.

The two bidding consortiums - MSC-Lufthansa on one side and the private equity fund Certares, which is understood to be with Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines, on the other - had already sent in second binding offers in early July. They will now have to quickly send a third version so that the winner can be announced in ten days, Franco outlined on August 4. The rush is also partly driven by looming parliamentary elections set for late September.

“Neither of the two proposals received for ITA is fully consistent with the requirements of the Prime Minister’s Office. For this reason, in a very short time, within days, they will be asked to formulate further proposals and will be asked to respond in a very short...

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