Italy's troubled state-run Alitalia airline's executives are confident they can give a buyer's name to the government within a month, union sources said.

The board of the airline said it has a list of six possible buyers -- Air France, Lufthansa, Aeroflot, Italy's Air One airline, a consortium led by former Italian judge Antonio Baldassarre and American private equity group TPG, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Alitalia Chairman Maurizio Prato told union representatives during a Tuesday meeting that the list would be winnowed to one potential buyer by early November, a union representative told ANSA. The name of the proposed buyer would be offered to the Treasury for final approval, the source said.

The Italian government decided last year to sell most -- if not all -- of its 49.9 percent stake in Alitalia. An effort to auction the stake during the summer failed after the three bidders dropped out of consideration because of conditions imposed on them by the country's Treasury office // Copyright 2007 by United Press International


Publication date: 10 October 2007   

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