* Air France-KLM, Aeroflot, Odien, Unimex interested in CSA
* Winner to be known by the end of September
(Releads with finance ministry statement)
By Jana Mlcochova
PRAGUE, March 23 (Reuters) - The Czech Finance Ministry
closed the first round of tendering in the Czech Airlines CSA
privatisation on Monday with four preliminary bids received.
Air France-KLM <AIRF.PA>, Russia's Aeroflot <AFLT.MM>,
private equity firm Odien and a consortium comprising Czech
Unimex Group and Travel Service <ICEAIR.IC> all submitted
applications in the tendering, the ministry said.
It also said the winner should be known by the end of
September at the latest.
The Czech government is selling a 91.5 percent stake in the
airline as a global economic slowdown has sapped travel demand,
putting airlines under heavy pressure.
Analyst expect the sale of what is a relatively small
European airline hit by leasing costs as well as the economic
downturn to fetch up to 5 billion crowns ($255 million).
Aeroflot had announced earlier on Monday it had entered the
tender competition while Air France-KLM said it would file a
letter of interest in order to access the airline's data.
Bidders need to meet conditions such as keeping CSA's
national identity status to prevent the airline losing any of
its international routes outside Europe.
That could happen if the company is sold to a foreign buyer
because of the global system of bilateral agreements between
countries which govern which airlines can fly where around the
world.
Non-Czech bidders will therefore have to combine with Czech
entities in consortia to fulfil that condition.
Aeroflot said it planned to create a partnership with a
Czech or a European company but did not specify which.
The government will also assess bidders' security risks with
Czech politicians having voiced concerns about Aeroflot's
ownership structure. Aeroflot has not commented on the matter.
The Russian carrier has long been on the lookout for
acquisitions in Europe and Chief Executive Valery Okulov,
son-in-law of Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin, told
Reuters in September last year the company was eyeing two
possible acquisitions, including Czech Airlines.
Air France, which sees itself as a major player in European
industry consolidation, said Czech Airlines' flight network was
highly complementary to its own and would enable it to
strengthen its position in central and eastern Europe.
Air France has described Czech Airlines as a close partner,
particularly through their membership of the global SkyTeam
alliance of airlines since 2001.
CSA made a pretax profit of $550,000 million in 2008 on
operating revenue of 23.2 million Czech crowns.
Management ended three years of losses in 2007 after cutting
costs and boosting revenue by selling off non-core assets,
including its catering division, and by selling and leasing back
planes.
($1=19.64 Czech crowns)
(Editing by Dan Lalor, Greg Mahlich)
