VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA) will launch a sale of catering unit Servair soon, seen worth up to around 400 million euros ($435 million), and has mandated BNP Paribas to manage the deal, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

A majority of Air France (AIRF.PA) pilots backed a deal reached in October to develop the company's low-cost operations in France, the airline said on Wednesday.

European stocks reversed early losses on Monday as airline shares gained after crude oil prices fell to near a four-year low, though broad dollar weakness and a jump in gold signaled investor concern over global economic health.

Air France-KLM is pressing ahead with expansion of its low cost brand in France and has a back-up plan if a deadlock with pilots continues, its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alexandre de Juniac said in an interview published on Sunday.

Air France sought to bring a costly 12-day pilots strike, over the expansion of its budget Transavia unit, to an end on Friday with a series of proposals that won the backing of the company's board and French Prime Minister Manuel Valls.

Air France-KLM has put its regional airline CityJet on the block after posting a loss of €209 million last year. It had received on Friday a firm offer from Germany's Intro Aviation to buy the struggling Dublin-based airline.

Ireland's Ryanair on Tuesday announced that it won't participate in Italian airline Alitalia's EUR300 million emergency cash call. Other carriers including Lufthansa, Etihad Airways, Aeroflot and Alitalia shareholder Air France-KLM have also turned down the deal.

Dublin-based aircraft management firm Amentum Capital Ltd has sold a 25% stake in its business to Tokyo-based investor Financial Products Group (FPG)for an undisclosed amount.

Italian airline Alitalia said on Thursday that it was able to raise EUR173 million of EUR300 million it needed in its cash call from investors with help from Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit.

State-controlled Russian airline Aeroflot told Reuters the company will neither buy nor financially aid Italian airline Alitalia despite being repeatedly named by Italian officials as a potential backer.

The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported on Thursday including Sigma Alimentos, Fastjet, Rostelecom, DNB, Caixabank, Cyfrowy Polsat, America Movil, Alitalia, Telecom Italia.

Alitalia CEO Gabriele del Tochio would be submitting to the board for its decision for an industrial plan which would include 2,000 employee layoffs in order to keep the Italian air carrier aloft.

A recent quarterly report released by Air France-KLM showed that the Franco-Dutch airline had written off the value of its 25% ownership stake in Italian carrier Alitalia.

Air France-KLM CEO Alexandre de Juniac said a company restructuring should happen in Alitalia before the French carrier would consider putting out a takeover offer.

According to an anonymous source who told Reuters, Air France-KLM was 50-50 on whether it would participate in the EUR300 million share issuance to save the Italian airline from bankruptcy.