The names of Italian investors behind a consortium to rescue beleaguered national carrier Alitalia will be made known in September, Cabinet Secretary Paolo Bonaiuti said on Thursday.
Bonaiuti also disclaimed reports that a cabinet meeting at the end of August would discuss plans to modify Italy's bankruptcy laws and pave the way for special administration procedures for Alitalia.
Names of investors circulating in the Italian press include the Ligresti family, financier Marco Tronchetti Provera and Piaggio's Roberto Colaninno.
The Benetton Group, another widely touted member of the consortium, on Wednesday said ''we haven't seen the plan so how can we put the money in?''
A restructuring plan being drawn up by government-appointed advisor Intesa SanPaolo bank is expected bo be unveiled shortly before the August 8 meeting of the Alitalia board scheduled to examine the last semester.
According to inside sources, the advisor's report calls for the formation of a ''solid company'' through the merger of domestic carrier Air One with Alitalia.
The plan envisages splitting up the company in two parts: one that would merge the profit-making side of Alitalia with Air One which would handle 65% of the domestic market and another, a so-called 'bad company', which would assume Alitalia's debts and would be liquidated soon after.
This would save new investors from picking up Alitalia's debts and would allow the company to look for a strong international partner.
According to Rome daily Messaggero, Italian investors are ready to put up between 800 million euros and 1.6 billion euros to relaunch the carrier.
Alitalia was put up for sale last year by the previous centre-left government but an offer by Air France-KLM failed in April following opposition from unions and the incoming centre-right administration of Premier Silvio Berlusconi.
Berlusconi told party Senators at a dinner this week that the advisor's plan would involve 5,000 lay-offs but said this was the ''lesser evil'' compared to the loss of all 20,000 jobs if the airline went bust.
The premier said the consortium taking shape would have the money to buy 90 new planes and the clout to restore ''major intercontinental routes, starting with new flights to China,'' participants at the Tuesday night meeting reported.
Faced with intense criticism over the failure of a tie-up with Air France-KLM that would have meant less than half the number of lay-offs now in view, Berlusconi insisted that the deal, which fell apart during his election campaign, had ''set unacceptable conditions''.
The government has given the carrier a 300 million euro loan to keep it afloat through 2008.
The EU is examining the June 11 loan to see if it complies with its rules on state aid.
On Thursday, the CEO of low-cost carrier Ryanair Michael O'Leary, said that government intervention was damaging Alitalia.
''Alitalia is constantly subsidised and this must stop. Alitalia has a future only if the government stops intervening in it,'' he said.
''By next winter, there will be only five airlines left in Europe: Ryanair, Easy Jet, British Airways-Iberia, Air France-KLM and Lufthansa,'' O'Leary told a news conference in Milan.
Opposition leader Walter Veltroni meanwhile said the solution being bandied for Alitalia appeared ''confusing'' and without a realistic industrial strategy.
Lazio region President Piero Marrazzo urged the mayors of Rome and Fiumicino to attend an emergency meeting on Monday with Alitalia unions to discuss layoff plans.
Minister for Relations with Parliament Elio Vito said the government would brief the House and Senate Transport and Budget Committees on Monday or Tuesday on the latest developments.
