A group of Italian businessmen met Alitalia's sale adviser on Monday and confirmed their willingness to invest in the troubled carrier as part of its latest rescue plan, a source close to the situation said.
The investor meeting is the first of several key business and political meetings expected this week to push through a decision to break up the state-controlled airline and seek bankruptcy protection for its troubled units.
That is likely to be followed by an injection of funds by potential investors such as Carlo Toto, the head of smaller rival Air One, and wealthy Italian business families the Fossatis, Ligrestis, Rivas and Apontes.
Representatives of all four families, Toto, Atlantia CEO Giovanni Castellucci, Equinox fund chief Salvatore Mancuso, and executives from Fingen and private equity fund Clessidra attended the meeting at Intesa Sanpaolo's offices in Milan.
Also present were Roberto Colaninno, chief executive at scooter maker Piaggio and now tipped to be executive chairman of a resurgent Alitalia, and Rocco Sabelli, a turnaround expert who worked with Colaninno at Piaggio and is on tap for the post of chief executive at Alitalia.
Most of them declined to comment, but businessman Gianluigi Aponte told reporters that the meeting was about Alitalia.
"It was the first important meeting of the main investors in Alitalia who listened to a presentation of the (rescue) plan's key points," the source said. "The businessmen confirmed their willingness to be part of the Alitalia team."
Bruno Ermolli, an adviser to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, also attended the meeting. Berlusconi has made saving Alitalia one of his key mandates during his first year in office, and has for months been promising a group of Italian investors would materialize to salvage the airline.
Newspaper reports have suggested investment by the business leaders could total around EUR1 billion euros.
Other business leaders who have been named by Italian newspapers as potential investors in Alitalia, such as the Benetton family and Pirelli Chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera, were not at Monday's meeting.
Alitalia, whose board meets on Friday to approve first-half results, is expected to resume the search for a foreign partner after the restructuring.
Lufthansa -- which earlier on Monday confirmed its interest in buying a stake in Austrian Airlines -- is considered to be a top contender for buying into a reshaped Alitalia, according to a government source, though it was unclear if the airline has been approached yet on such a deal.
