17 de julio 2008 - 00:00

Aerolíneas Argentinas to become nationalized today

Aerolíneas Argentinas to become nationalized today
Last night, Argentine government and Marsans Group were about to reach an agreement on Spanish way out of Aerolíneas Argentinas. According to official sources, some details were left to discuss at the last moment before State and, up to yesterday, controlling shareholders of the airline would sign the document.

«If it wasn't for Congress vote, the signature of the document would have already been announced. But as the president has to give her okay and she's watching to see what happens in the Senate, the announcement will probably be made tomorrow » (that is to say, today), said to this newspaper an important government source.

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In fact, several of the ones who «will be in the picture» were asked to keep their cell phones on since very early in the morning, in case they were called to meet urgently at the office where Aerolíneas renationalization will take place.

The final negotiation -always according to official sources- would have been held «government to government». It appears that José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's administration defended Marsans fully, although not in public. Spokemen at this side of the Atlantic would have been Legal and Technical Secretary, Carlos Zannini, and Argentine Planning Minister, Julio De Vido, himself.

Anyway, one of the details of the debate present since the beginning of the airline's renationalization process is whether the Argentine government will keep the shares in lieu of the debt (confirmed by the own airline in $890 million) or pay any amount in cash.

Zannini and the Secretary of Transportation, Ricardo Jaime, would have given up their greatest hope: to make Gerardo Díaz Ferrán and Gonzalo Pascual (owners of Marsans) sign a document equivalent to an unconditional surrender, in which they admit that Aerolíneas Argentinas' crisis was exclusively caused by their own bad administration.

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