Etihad to decide by year's end on whether to invest in Alitalia

Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways is examining Alitalia's books and is expected to decide by Christmas whether to take a stake in the troubled Italian airline, two sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

- Etihad has been in (Alitalia's) data room as of some ten days and will complete the process by the end of this week - one source said to Reuters.

Etihad and Alitalia declined to comment.

According to an unnamed source, Alitalia has just raised 300 million euros which analysts said would keep the carrier flying for the next six months while it searches for an investor.

Alitalia's top investor has so far been Air France-KLM, but the Franco-Dutch group has let its 25 percent stake be diluted to just around 7 percent after it snubbed the recent cash call, asking for tougher restructuring of Alitalia's debt.
According to another unnamed source, Etihad is not at all interested in Alitalia.

- An Etihad-led team is looking at numbers of Alitalia and this is not the first time it has done so. Alitalia is desperate to find a reliable partner, and Etihad is a serious investor in other airlines - one of the sources said and added that "it is not yet clearly defined if the Italian carrier is capable of meeting Etihad's expectations".

Etihad Airways

ALITALIA - Linee Aeree Italiane S.p.A

Air France-KLM

Etihad Airways

Alitalia

Air France KLM