Italy's state railway picks Atlantia for Alitalia rescue

Italy’s state railway Ferrovie dello Stato picked motorway operator Atlantia as a partner to join a consortium of investors for the rescue of national carrier Alitalia, Ferrovie said on Monday. Atlantia will join Ferrovie, the finance ministry and US carrier Delta in a state-orchestrated effort to relaunch the ailing airline with an overall capital injection of around E1b. Besides Atlantia, infrastructure group Toto Holding, Lazio soccer club chairman Claudio Lotito and airline entrepreneur German Efromovich sent in non-binding proposals on Sunday to Ferrovie adviser Mediobanca to join the consortium. Atlantia is expected to take a 35-40% stake in Alitalia, meaning an investment for the Benetton family-controlled group of E300-400m. Ferrovie and the finance ministry will have an overall stake of 50% in the new company, while Delta is committed to acquiring around 10-15% of the carrier. Ferrovie will start working as soon as possible with the partners it picked to draw up a business plan and other elements of a potential offer, the company said in a statement issued after a board meeting held earlier on Monday. However, binding offers and a business plan for Alitalia might be finalised only in September, a source close to the situation told Reuters.<br/>