MILAN, Italy (AP) – Unicredit has recruited Russian airline Aeroflot as a partner in the bank’s bid to take over struggling Italian airline Alitalia, a bank executive said Monday as the deadline passed for new bidders to enter the race.
Shares in Alitalia were suspended at $1.31 in Milan trading Monday pending a statement on the bidding process, the stock market operator said. Preliminary offers are due by April 16.
Under the terms of Unicredit’s deal with Aeroflot, the Russian airline would be the majority partner in the final offer with a 95 percent stake to Unicredit’s 5 percent, said Sergio Ermottoi, Unicredit’s head of investment banking.
Aeroflot deputy general director Lev Koshlyakov confirmed that the company had applied to participate in the sale.
“We have made an expression of interest and sent our request to the Italian Ministry of Finance,” Koshlyakov told the Associated Press. He said he would provide no further details of the company’s plans until the Italian government had released its final list of candidates for the shares.
The Italian government set a Monday morning deadline for new bidders to enter the field.
To date, other bidders for Alitalia include AP Holding SpA, led by Air One chairman Carlo Toto, and U.S. asset-management group Matlin Patterson Global Advisers LLC and Texas Pacific Group, which made a nonbinding offer last week for Spanish airline Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA.
Italian private equity fund Management & Capitali SpA stepped out of the bidding process last Friday, without explaining why.
The Italian government, which controls a 49.9 percent share of Alitalia, intends to sell at least a 39.9 percent share to a buyer with a turnaround plan. Under the latest terms outlined by the government, bidders must guarantee Alitalia will retain an Italian identity for at least eight years and must set out the terms for a business plan designed to turn around the airline.
The government wants to complete the privatization by the end of June.
Alitalia has been battered by high fuel costs, low-cost competition and strikes.
