VENTURE CAPITAL POST

German Efromovich, the owner of Colombian flag carrier Avianca, is reportedly looking to acquire Italian airline Alitalia or Polish flag carrier LOT Polish Airlines. Efromovich seeks to boost his presence in Europe.

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.

The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported on tuesday including Adcock Ingram, Energa, Nordea Bank, Alitalia, Ben Venue, TIM Participacoes, Douglas, Mercator, Novartis, OncoMed, Kerning and Malaysia Airports

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.

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.

The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported on Tuesday.

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.

Intesa Sanpaolo chief executive officer Carlo Messina wanted Italian carrier Alitalia to have Air France-KLM as its industrial partner.

In a news report in the Italian daily Il Messagero, a letter from Air France CFO criticized Alitalia for the lack of information regarding key decisions made on their joint venture where it owns 25%.

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.

Air France-KLM, a top shareholder in Italy’s Alitalia, did not make a clear position regarding a proposed capital increase to save the near-bankrupt air carrier.

Alitalia remains operational because of capital infusion from Il Poste and Italian banks.

Alitalia, an almost bankrupt Italian firm, had received a lifeline last Friday after the company's board approved a capital increase, reported Reuters.

Sources told Bloomberg that Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta was pushing for a state-controlled firm to back Alitalia in its planned merger with Air France-KLM.