Alitalia: Berlusconi envoy seeks info for possible Italian investor interest in airline

ROME: Ailing Alitalia said Friday that an envoy designated by Premier Silvio Berlusconi is seeking information about the airline in view of a possible plan by Italian investors and businessmen to save the flagship Italian airline.

Berlusconi, in the runup to winning the premiership in last month's elections, pledged to try to see if Italian business leaders could rescue the airline.

Citing difficulties with unions, among other snags, Air France-KLM ended exclusive negotiations this spring with Alitalia to try to acquire the airline, which is 49.9 percent owned by the Italian government.

The loss-making carrier said in a statement that a letter had arrived from Bruno Ermolli, who had been asked by Berlusconi to obtain updated information and figures about the company for Italian investors and industrialists "with the aim of evaluating the possibility of working up a possible plan to relaunch" Alitalia.

In April, the outgoing government of Romano Prodi approved a loan of €300 million (about US$465 million) for the airline to stave off bankruptcy. The European Union is expected soon to issue a ruling on whether the loan violated competition rules.

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