Etihad may unveil stake buy in Alitalia soon: CEO

[SINGAPORE] Etihad Airways could make an announcement about its stake purchase into ailing Italian carrier Alitalia sometime next week. Etihad CEO James Hogan said his company was undertaking final due diligence.

"We should be able to say something (about this) in about 10 days," Mr Hogan told BT.

Indeed, if it does buy a reported 40 per cent stake in Alitalia for some 300 million euros (about S$515 million), Etihad would tie up a deal which has eluded numerous other big players, including its own European strategic partner Air France-KLM.