Lufthansa's purchase of state-owned Italian Ita is complete, according to the Italian news agency Ansa.
The parties – Lufthansa and the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance for the owner, the Italian state, reached an agreement late on Monday evening. They fought against a deadline set to midnight and were able to send over the purchase agreement to the EU Commission in Brussels for a final formal review.
But the Commission has already given a preliminary yes to the deal. Ita is a loss-making company, the successor to the defunct Alitalia.
Recently, the whole deal was on the verge of collapse since Lufthansa came up with demands for a discount at the last minute on the price of 325 million euros that the parties agreed on last July. For this, Lufthansa gets a 41 percent stake, with an option to take over completely.
