By Euro Weekly News Media • Published: 21 Oct 2013 • 8:06
PARIS (Reuters) – Franco-Dutch airline Air France-KLM <AIRF.PA> is considering diluting its stake in struggling Italian carrier Alitalia if a deeper restructuring fails to take place, French newspaper Les Echos reported on Monday.
Air France-KLM owns a 25 percent stake in Alitalia and appears willing to let this fall to 11 percent by not taking part in a 300 million-euro (254 million pounds)) capital increase, despite having approved the share issue itself, the report said, citing one unnamed source.
Air France-KLM declined to comment.
Air France is not obliged to participate in the cash call for the Italian airline and has always said it would attach strict conditions before giving any help.
Although Air France-KLM’s chief executive has said that he would be open to a merger between the two airlines, he has also stressed that there would need to be a “vigorous” overhaul of Alitalia first – which would likely see opposition from Rome and unions.
Air France-KLM’s decision on whether to take part or not in the capital increase is “evenly balanced”, a source close to the Franco-Dutch carrier told Reuters on October 15.
Share this story
Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox!
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don't already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Share your story with us by emailing newsdesk@euroweeklynews.com, by calling +34 951 38 61 61 or by messaging our Facebook page www.facebook.com/EuroWeeklyNews
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don’t already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Download our media pack in either English or Spanish.