Originally Posted by
irishguy28
Delta can't buy more than 49% of the shares; Etihad would presumably be delighted to offload their holding to Delta, and I can't see Delta wanting to be have Etihad as a major shareholder in the airline.
Delta may think that their de-facto control of Virgin Atlantic with a 49% shareholding can be replicated at Alitalia - but only if they ignore Etihad's experience.
I image that Delta are only being sticky beaks and trying to get a glimpse of the books, like the other 29 "interested" parties.
True. Also and regardless of what they are trying to get at this stage, no one would be willing to take-over the massive debt. Alitalia had 2 big chances (even before Etihad) to play a significant part in the industry and namely -
1. The failed merger with KLM (FYI and a useful link for those who are too young to remember:
http://ec.europa.eu/competition/merg...ns/jv19_en.pdf);
2. The proposal from the Air France-KLM group back in 2008, under which they would have cleared the debt and with only a tiny reduction in terms of workforce.
Sadly, we all know the outcomes for each of the above.
G