germanys deutsche lufthansa said it had reached an agreement with the italian ministry of economy and finance to acquire a 41 stake in ita airways the italian carrier formerly known as alitalia building on its exposure to what lufthansa called the thirdlargest airline market in europe the german carrier group said thursday that it would inject 325 million euros 3494 million into ita to buy the stake with the italian government pledging to add a further eur250 million the deal which is subject to regulatory approvals enables lufthansa to increase its stake in the carrier or to acquire it outright making itas purchase price dependent on the achievement of jointly agreed targets for net debt and earnings lufthansa submitted a bid for a minority stake in january beating a rival consortium including delta air lines air franceklm and investment firm certares management the deal caps a yearslong effort by the italian government to reduce the states control of ita airways which started operations in late 2021 with less than half of alitalias aircraft fleet italy is lufthansas largest foreign market after the us lufthansa chief executive carsten spohr said at the groups annual general meeting earlier this month citing italys weight as one of europes biggest economies and the milan metropolitan area as being the thirdlargest catchment area in europe behind london and paris