Italy is in exclusive talks to sell a controlling stake in ITA Airways, the successor company to bankrupt Alitalia, to Delta Air Lines, Air France-KLM and US private equity firm Certares. The three placed one of two bids in May for the acquisition of ITA Airways. In a statement on Wednesday the Italian Treasury, which controls the business, said this offer was deemed “more respondent to [the government’s] objectives”. It added that a binding agreement would be reached only if the negotiations fully satisfied the Treasury. The latest offer comes after Germany’s Lufthansa and Swiss-Italian shipping conglomerate MSC had expressed interest in acquiring a majority stake. They were deemed the preferred contenders until this week, when Delta, Air France-KLM and Certares returned with an improved offer, according to people close to the situation. Under the private equity-led offer, the Treasury would maintain a 40% stake in ITA Airways, while Certares would own the controlling 60% stake. Delta and Air France would be ITA’s commercial partners and could, at a later stage, acquire up to 20% of the company, the people said. In February, the Treasury was given a mandate by the cabinet to search for a buyer as Rome sought to accelerate the airline’s privatisation after its bailout in 2021. In January, ITA boss Alfredo Altavilla said that the potential deal with Lufthansa and MSC was a “very compelling solution” for the carrier, which needs to find an international partner to expand beyond its domestic market. MSC is the world’s largest container-shipping group and hoped to expand into air cargo through the deal, while Italy is Lufthansa’s main foreign market. The German airline’s chief executive Carsten Spohr in May told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that Rome would become the group’s southern hub. However, people close to the negotiations between the Treasury and the two groups of contenders said that an expansion into the US market proposed by Certares, Delta and Air France-KLM had been deemed more attractive and potentially profitable.<br/>
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The Italian government’s plan to sell the airline that emerged from the ashes of troubled former flag carrier Alitalia may be dead on arrival. The plan to potentially sell state carrier ITA Airways to an investor group including Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines Inc. was opposed by Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the right-wing bloc that’s expected to win the upcoming general elections. “I don’t understand why the Italian government deliberately chose to move forward without waiting for the next government,” Meloni told reporters at a campaign event Wednesday in Pescara, Italy. “We’ve spent billions on the airline and now we’re handing it over to foreign funds without an industrial plan for the airports.” Earlier in the day, Italy’s Finance Ministry said it planned to start exclusive talks with the group led by the Certares investment fund, selecting it over a rival bid from a team that included Lufthansa. The two bidding groups had spent months jockeying for position in the contest for the airline. PM Mario Draghi said earlier this month that the non-binding selection process would go ahead regardless of elections. <br/>