The new airline being created to replace the long financially ailing Alitalia will take off on Oct. 15 with its first flights, the Italian Economy Ministry announced on Thursday, the Associated Press reported. In a statement, the ministry said the new company, ITA, will be fully operating on that date, following the positive outcome of discussions with the European Union’s executive commission. Alitalia’s last flights apparently will operate on Oct. 14.
Italy
Read more
The COVID-19 pandemic hit Italy especially hard, killing more than 127,000 people and sending the European Union’s third-largest economy into a devastating tailspin. Yet out of that tragedy may come solutions for decades-old problems that have held back growth and productivity — and with them, a new sense of stability for the euro, the currency shared by 19 of the European Union’s 27 members, the Associated Press reported.
Read more
A group of creditors that bought Etihad Airways PJSC-linked bonds are preparing to auction $463 million of claims against insolvent airlines Alitalia and Air Berlin to recover some of their investment, Bloomberg News reported. The trustee of bonds issued by EA Partners I and II -- two special purpose entities set up by the Abu Dhabi-based carrier -- hired Barclays Bank Plc to arrange the sale, according to a statement. Potential buyers will be able to access documentation on June 21 and the auction will take place within two weeks, it said.
Read more
Italy is seizing on a bond rally spurred by bets that monetary stimulus in Europe is here to stay for a while longer, Bloomberg News reported. The government racked up more than 60 billion euros ($73 billion) of orders for its sale of new 10-year bonds. While that’s short of a record set when the continent was in the throes of the pandemic a year ago, it matches interest at the height of a bond rally in February, when yields fell to a record low.
Read more
Ryanair will appeal against funds made available to the government-owned Italian airline that will replace Alitalia as it considers them illegal state support, the chief executive of the Irish carrier said on Saturday, Reuters reported. "As soon as this money will be injected in the newco we will take the (due) steps," CEO Eddie Wilson told Italian daily la Repubblica in an interview. "We are waiting to see, but it is clear that it is illegal aid and we will defend our interest by appealing against this umpteenth loan," he added.
Read more
Banca Ifis Rescues Italian Casualty of Greensill Collapse
Italy’s Banca Ifis has bought the healthy assets of Aigis Banca for 1 euro ($1.22) after Aigis was forced into liquidation by the insolvency of Germany’s Greensill Bank, Reuters reported. German financial services regulator BaFin in March shut down Greensill Bank AG, which was part of Greensill Capital, the collapsed London-based supply-chain finance group owned by Australian financier Lex Greensill.
Read more
When Mario Draghi ran the European Central Bank, he pushed, unsuccessfully, to get the region’s feeble banks to merge and clean themselves up. Now as Italy’s prime minister, he is trying again, hoping to spur a consolidation wave among the country’s beleaguered lenders, the Wall Street Journal reported. Italy’s banking sector, stuffed with soured loans and weighed down by high costs, has long loomed as the weakest link among countries that share the euro currency. Last week Mr.
Read more
Italy and the European Union promised Thursday to support Tunisia’s economy as part of their efforts to stem migration across the Mediterranean Sea toward Europe, the Associated Press reported. Italian Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese and EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson visited Tunisia for talks with President Kais Saied and Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi. More than 67 migrants drowned or disappeared off the coast of Tunisia in recent days after their boats sank.
Read more
Italian Premier Mario Draghi is presenting a 222.1 billion euro ($268.6 billion) coronavirus recovery plan to Parliament on Monday, aiming to not only bounce back from the pandemic but enact “epochal” reforms to address structural problems that long predated COVID-19, the Associated Press reported.
Prime Minister Mario Draghi is seeking to restart Italy’s economy through a plan based on about 200 billion euros ($241 billion) of European Union funding, with most of the cash allocated to digitalization and transitioning to green technologies, according to a draft seen by Bloomberg.