"ITA Airways welcomes with satisfaction the final approval of the Directorate-General for Competition of the European Commission (Dgcomp) of the transaction for the sale of the stake in Italia Trasporto Aereo SpA (ITA Airways) by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (Mef) to Deutsche Lufthansa AG (Lufthansa), pursuant to the Prime Ministerial Decree of 11 February 2022, as amended by the Prime Ministerial Decree of 22 December 2022 on the basis of the remedies shared by the parties. The company will continue to work in support of the Mef in view of the closing of the transaction": it is with this note that ITA yesterday evening informed of Brussels' approval of its marriage with Lufthansa, one year after notifying the EU of the transaction and a few hours before the end of the Commission's mandate.

The Italian note was echoed by the German one from Lufthansa, which almost simultaneously announced: "Today the European Commission has given the unconditional green light to the acquisition of a minority stake of 41% of ITA Airways by the Lufthansa Group. In particular, the EU antitrust authority in Brussels has approved the corrective measures submitted by Lufthansa and the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance on 11 November (see AVIONEWS, Editor's note). The Lufthansa Group welcomes this authorization by the EU Commission, as it represents an important milestone in the M&A process towards the successful acquisition of ITA Airways. Closing of the deal is currently scheduled for early 2025".

On July 3, the Commission had set a series of adjustments as conditions for the green light to the agreement (see AVIONEWS). In these hours, however, the green light from Brussels. "EasyJet, IAG and AirFrance-KLM satisfy the relevant criteria of independence from Lufthansa, the Mef and ITA; they have financial resources, proven skills and incentives to act as valid and active competitive forces in competition with Lufthansa and ITA, and there are no competition problems or 'prima facie' risks of delaying the operation". The agreement between the two airlines, which provides for Lufthansa's entry into 41% of the Italian air carrier, was signed on May 25, 2023 (see AVIONEWS), and had received the green light from the Italian Court of Auditors in June. Then the dossier arrived on the desk of the European Commission, with extra time to consider any critical issues regarding competition.

In conclusion, the comment of Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, head of the Mef, could not be missed last night: "After Mps, we also see the finish line for ITA. We are satisfied with this new stage, now we have to go the last mile".

For further details see attachment below.