According to insiders, Lufthansa is expected to present its bid to acquire a stake in the state-owned Italian airline ITA at the beginning of next week.

The Alitalia successor's data room for prospective buyers closes on Wednesday. Two people familiar with the process told the Reuters news agency on Friday that the offer for a minority stake is expected by then. One of the insiders said that Lufthansa wanted to take over 40 percent for 300 to 350 million euros as a first step. A Lufthansa spokesperson did not want to comment on this.

Around a year ago, Lufthansa and the Swiss shipping company MSC had proposed the takeover of a majority stake in ITA Airways, but had meanwhile dropped out of the race during the privatization process, which was controversial during the election campaign. A sale of a minority stake in ITA to the US financial investor Certares, which worked together with Air France and the US airline Delta, was then scuppered in the fall. Negotiations with Lufthansa were restarted and MSC withdrew.

With ITA Airways, Lufthansa, whose group also includes Eurowings, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Swiss, could strengthen its position in its most important European foreign market. The Italian airline, which has shrunk to just over 50 aircraft, could expand its long-haul business. In the longer term, Lufthansa could then become the majority shareholder.

(Report by Angelo Amante, Giuseppe Fonte, Ilona Wissenbach. Edited by Olaf Brenner. If you have any queries, please contact the editorial team at frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com)