Atlantia Saw 10% Italy Traffic Decline Since January

Atlantia SpA's (ATL.MI) chairman Friday said traffic flows along the highways that the toll operator manages in Italy had declined by 10% since the beginning of the year, according to MF-Dow Jones.

Fabio Cerchiai told reporters on the margins of an event he nevertheless expected the trend to ease, reaching a decline of 2% to 3% for the entire year, as forecast by the toll operator.

Cerchiai also said Atlantia had received more than 10 offers to buy a stake in its Chilean business, adding that it had entered into advanced talks.

In February, Atlantia gained complete control of Autostrade Sud America Srl, a subsidiary in South America, and planned to look for investors interested in buying stakes in the Chilean business of the subsidiary. Known as Grupo Costanera, its manages highways in Chile including one in the capital, Santiago. It cited pension funds and sovereign wealth funds as having expressed interest in acquiring up to 49% of the business.

-By Gianluca Fontanella, MF-Dow Jones; Gilles Castonguay, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]; Twitter: @GRCastonguay

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