Yesterday was yet another hectic day to define the last details. And then the agreement that sanctions the long-awaited “yes” to the wedding between Ita and Lufthansa. After a weekend of intense negotiations, the Mef and the German sky giant signed at the last possible minute the agreement on the final plan then sent promptly to Brussels respecting the deadline set at 11:59 p.m.
After the row that broke out at the beginning of last week over Frankfurt's request for a discount on the price which had infuriated the Treasury - which had no intention of giving in to "blackmail" and "selling off" the new company - the Germans have given up on the race to the bottom.
"The economic conditions envisaged" in the contract of the Italian-German alliance signed in July 2023 "have not undergone any changes", the Ministry of Economy and Finance specified in a note releasing the long-awaited announcement. Now it awaits "with confidence" the final approval of the European Commission to proceed with the closing. A positive final judgment that the European Antitrust is ready to issue without further twists.
The latest round of negotiations revolved around the second tranche of the overall investment of 829 million euros that the German giant led by the inflexible CEO Carsten Spohr is called upon to pay to take control of the Italian company that arose from the ashes of Alitalia.
(Online Union)
