Air France-KLM is free to sell its
stake in Alitalia if it is not happy with its expected link-up
with Etihad, the CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo bank, the Italian
carrier's biggest stakeholder, said Friday.
Air France-KLM, which used to be Alitalia's biggest
shareholder but saw its stake shrink to around 7% after opting
not to take part in a capital increase last year, has expressed
reservations about the deal that could see Etihad investing as
much as 500 million euros to take up a big chunk of the troubled
airline.
"Air France can say goodbye to Alitalia if it wants to,"
said Carlo Messina, the CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo, which has a
stake of over 20% in the airline.
"We organized a financial operation aimed at involving Air
France in the capital increase, but they left us in trouble, as
we (the other stakeholders) had to subscribe to the whole
capital increase.
"Now they can go. If they go, they go. I tried in every
way to bring them in".
Etihad's conditions to invest in Alitalia, including
demands for cuts in the Italian airline's workforce and its
debt, have reportedly held up completion of the deal.
Air France-KLM recently said that it thought Etihad's
demands looked stricter than what the French-Dutch carrier had
requested last fall in exchange for an increased investment.
Another senior Intesa Sanpaolo executive, Chairman of the
Management Board Gian Maria Gros-Pietro, denied reports Friday
that Etihad had responded to a proposal for a letter of intent
from Alitalia for an agreement.
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