The European Commission has given the final green light for Lufthansa to acquire a minority stake in Italian airline ITA Airways, paving the way for the creation of Europe’s largest airline group.
The final package of commitments sent by Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), the German airline and the Italian carrier on November 11 was deemed “consistent” with the agreement already approved by Brussels on July 3, after long, tense negotiations.
“We are satisfied with this new step, now we can go through the last mile”, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said late Friday after the Commission said it had approved the package.
Lufthansa, for its part, said the authorisation represented an important milestone, explaining that final closure of the agreement “is currently expected in early 2025.”
Earlier this month, MEF and Lufthansa reached a breakthrough in talks to overcome a problem that had put the German company’s merger with ITA Airways in jeopardy.
The Treasury Department said there was no change to the economic conditions stipulated in the 2023 merger agreement.
As a result of the breakthrough, the transaction documents have been signed and sent to the European Commission for final approval. Under the agreement reached last year, the German airline is acquiring a 41 per cent stake in ITA from MEF through a capital increase of 325 million euros, with the stake to be increased to 100 per cent in a second phase by 2033, with a total investment of 829 million.
Under the package approved on Friday, EasyJet and Air France KLM will get more routes. MEF owns ITA, the company that will replace loss-making former flag carrier Alitalia in 2021.
