Delta Air Lines May Pull Out of Alitalia Bidding, Corriere Says

(Bloomberg) -- Delta Air Lines Inc. may pull out of bidding for Alitalia SpA, complicating efforts to rescue the bankrupt Italian carrier, Corriere della Sera reported, citing unidentified people familiar.

The Atlanta-based firm doesn’t want to take part in a bidding game and might tell Alitalia’s administrators that its offer to inject about 100 million euros ($112 million) is final, Corriere said. Deutsche Lufthansa AG has already contacted Italy’s government to signal its interest in taking a more active role in the rescue, people familiar said on Oct. 31.

The government has set a Nov. 21 cutoff date for binding offers for Alitalia. Delta has been working alongside state rail operator Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane SpA and the Benetton family’s Atlantia SpA on a deal.

Lufthansa is prepared to inject as much as 150 million euros and seeks 5,000 to 6,000 job cuts, Corriere says.

Alitalia said on Nov. 10 that its liquidity stood at 310 million euros at the end of September. Stripped of future liabilities, adjusted liquidity fell to 160 million euros the same month and may run out at some point in December, Il Sole 24 Ore says, citing unidentified sources.

Italy granted the bankrupt carrier a bridge loan last month to cover six months of operations.

To contact the reporter on this story: Marco Bertacche in Milan at mbertacche@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Kingdon at ckingdon@bloomberg.net, Yakob Peterseil

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