The sale of Alitalia's flight division is in the final stages and now needs only a green light from Industry Minister Claudio Scajola, the national carrier's government-appointed administrator Augusto Fantozzi said on Wednesday.
Fantozzi made his remarks after receiving a definitive offer for Alitalia's flight operations from Rocco Sabelli, the CEO of Compagnia Aerea Italiana (CAI), a group of Italian investors which was put together to set up a new national carrier.
''Once we get the green light from the (industry) ministry I will accept CAI's offer,'' Fantozzi told the press.
A copy of the offer was forwarded to Scajola who told the press ''I don't know if I'll give my OK today because I need time to evaluate the offer. We'll see how the day goes''.
Scajola said he would judge the CAI offer based on the evaluation of Alitalia's assets drawn up for him by the ministry's advisor, Banca Leonardo.
In any case, Scajola said ''we will do what we can to ensure that CAI's acquisition of Alitalia's flight division will be completed by December 1''.
After handing Fantozzi the definitive version of the CAI offer, Sabelli said ''we are confident that the response will be positive''.
The definitive version was hammered out Tuesday after a day-long meeting between lawyers for CAI and Alitalia, which was also assisted by its advisor bank Rothchild.
CAI's initial offer was valued in the neighborhood of one billion euros.
The sum included 275 million euros in cash and the assumption of 625 million euros in debt, accumulated through aircraft acquisitions, prepaid tickets and other debts.
CAI is also ready to shell out an additional 90 million euros for the carrier's service unit Alitalia Servizi (57 million euros), its airport operations Alitalia Airport (seven million euros), its regional carrier Alitalia Express (19 million euros) and its budget airline Volare (17 million euros).
