Italy’s Treasury has chosen the financial and legal advisers to manage the upcoming privatisation of Alitalia successor ITA Airways (AZ, Rome Fiumicino), and it expects to unlock the “data room” housing sensitive information on the airline in the first half of April, ministerial sources have told Corriere della Sera.

Equita, an Italian investment bank, and law firm Gianni & Origoni will be the advisers who will assist the government to smooth the sale, the insiders told the newspaper on March 24, names that two sources also confirmed to the Reuters news agency on the same day. The Ministry of Economy and Finance said only that advisers had been picked, without providing details.

Representatives from the two companies will now discuss the procedure, and how to guide it through European Commission approval, with the ministry and with ITA executives before the keys to the data room are handed to interested parties. They will also liaise with advisers the airline has already chosen to assist it in matters related to a future strategic alliance, namely the investment banks JPMorgan Chase and Mediobanca and law firms Grande Stevens and Sullivan & Cromwell.

A consortium of Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) and shipping group MSC has confirmed it has expressed an interest in buying a majority stake in ITA - the offer on the table is EUR1.2-1.4 billion euros (USD1.32-1.55 billion), according to Corriere della Sera. Sources have told local media that Air France-KLM and, separately, Indigo Partners have also done so. The government, which intends to retain a minority stake, is itself entitled to inject another EUR1.35 billion (USD1.49 billion) into the carrier over three years, as agreed with European Union authorities.

Meanwhile, ITA Airways has revealed its willingness to operate six Public Service Obligation (PSO) routes between Sardinia and the Italian mainland between May 15 this year and May 14, 2023, the ANSA news agency reported. The longrunning PSO routes link Alghero, Cagliari, and Olbia to both Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate. Both ITA and Spanish competitor Volotea (V7, Barcelona El Prat) had recently been in conflict with Sardinia's regional court on the previous tender, leading up to May 2022.

The national airline said that despite the high cost of fuel, it had resolved to operate the routes without further compensation from the Sardinia Region while also guaranteeing advantageous rates for the Sardinian population in a time of “profound global uncertainty.” Sardinian President Christian Solinas welcomed the move. Volotea has so far confirmed only Rome-Cagliari for the summer months, ANSA reported.