Lufthansa eyes stake in Italy’s ITA to extend regional reach
Lufthansa said it aims to buy a minority stake in ITA Airways, seeking to advance an industry consolidation that would give the German airline a stronger foothold in a major European aviation market. The German carrier didn’t disclose financial details, or lay out the size of the stake it wishes to buy in the successor of Alitalia SpA. Lufthansa wants to buy as much as 40% of ITA in an initial step and subject to negotiations, according to people familiar with the talks, asking not to be identified discussing private deliberations. The airline said in a statement that it submitted a bid to Italy’s Economy and Finance Ministry, with a view to buying the remaining shares “at a later date.” Further talks will primarily focus on the form of a possible equity investment, the commercial and operational integration of ITA into Lufthansa, the airline said. A firm deal would allow Lufthansa to expand in one of Europe’s key markets, while charting a course for Rome to rid itself of an asset that has soaked up billions of euros in state support. While ITA and the erstwhile Alitalia have been notoriously unprofitable, Lufthansa would gain access to lucrative trans-Atlantic travel while preventing a rival from building up a base in northern Italy that might soak up passengers from Lufthansa’s own Munich hub. “The offer from Lufthansa was widely expected, but in our view sends a sub-optimal message on capital allocation: yes, Italy is an important, attractive market - but the successful restructuring of ITA into a sustainably profitable airline is far from assured,” Bernstein analysts Alex Irving and Clementine Flinois said in a note. ITA would add to a group of national carriers already under the Lufthansa umbrella, including Swiss and Austrian Airlines. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr, a trained pilot who has run the company for close to a decade, has built the company into Europe’s biggest airline group, competing with the other two major conglomerates — British Airways parent IAG SA and Air France-KLM — as well as the trio of budget specialists: Ryanair, EasyJet and Wizz Air. <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2023-01-20/star/lufthansa-eyes-stake-in-italy2019s-ita-to-extend-regional-reach
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Lufthansa eyes stake in Italy’s ITA to extend regional reach
Lufthansa said it aims to buy a minority stake in ITA Airways, seeking to advance an industry consolidation that would give the German airline a stronger foothold in a major European aviation market. The German carrier didn’t disclose financial details, or lay out the size of the stake it wishes to buy in the successor of Alitalia SpA. Lufthansa wants to buy as much as 40% of ITA in an initial step and subject to negotiations, according to people familiar with the talks, asking not to be identified discussing private deliberations. The airline said in a statement that it submitted a bid to Italy’s Economy and Finance Ministry, with a view to buying the remaining shares “at a later date.” Further talks will primarily focus on the form of a possible equity investment, the commercial and operational integration of ITA into Lufthansa, the airline said. A firm deal would allow Lufthansa to expand in one of Europe’s key markets, while charting a course for Rome to rid itself of an asset that has soaked up billions of euros in state support. While ITA and the erstwhile Alitalia have been notoriously unprofitable, Lufthansa would gain access to lucrative trans-Atlantic travel while preventing a rival from building up a base in northern Italy that might soak up passengers from Lufthansa’s own Munich hub. “The offer from Lufthansa was widely expected, but in our view sends a sub-optimal message on capital allocation: yes, Italy is an important, attractive market - but the successful restructuring of ITA into a sustainably profitable airline is far from assured,” Bernstein analysts Alex Irving and Clementine Flinois said in a note. ITA would add to a group of national carriers already under the Lufthansa umbrella, including Swiss and Austrian Airlines. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr, a trained pilot who has run the company for close to a decade, has built the company into Europe’s biggest airline group, competing with the other two major conglomerates — British Airways parent IAG SA and Air France-KLM — as well as the trio of budget specialists: Ryanair, EasyJet and Wizz Air. <br/>
