By Xinhua,
Paris : Air France-KLM will pay 323 million euros ($431 million) to acquire a 25 percent stake in Italian airline Alitalia, the two companies have said.
Alitalia, the 62-year-old state-run company, had gone bankrupt in August 2008 and the new Alitalia will be launched Tuesday with Air France as a shareholder along with other Italian investors.
Air France-KLM said it would underwrite a reserved capital increase, with 19 seats on Alitalia’s board and two seats on its executive committee.
Meanwhile, a four-year lock-up agreement will be in place, which means no Italian shareholder will be able to transfer shares to Air France-KLM or the Alitalia shareholders group until January 2013.
Air France-KLM competed with Germany’s Lufthansa for more than three months over the stake in the Italian airline.