Atlantia says to look into possibility of taking Alitalia stake

Italian infrastructure group Atlantia said it would look into the possibility of buying a stake in ailing national airline Alitalia, but it looks unlikely that it will be ready by the government’s deadline of Monday. Atlantia’s board said after meeting on Thursday that it had asked CEO Giovanni Castellucci to “look into the sustainability and effectiveness of the industrial plan regarding Alitalia, including the shareholders and the management team.” Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio, who is struggling to put together a consortium of firms to save the flagship carrier for the third time in a decade, has said he wants a deal by Monday. He has been working for months on a plan to hook it up with state-owned railway group Ferrovie dello Stato, and also has a commitment from Delta to take a stake, but still needs to find another partner. Atlantia’s board told Castellucci to report back with his findings at a future meeting whose date was not set, making it unclear how the company could be ready in time to commit to taking a stake by Di Maio’s Monday deadline. Delta’s CE Ed Bastian said Thursday the company, which is seeking to grow internationally, remains committed to investing around $100 million to acquire about 10% of Alitalia. “I think Alitalia has a promising future with the right ownership structure in place,” Bastian said.<br/>