Groundforce agreement expected today

TAP announced yesterday that the purchase of Groundforce assets for €7 million should be completed today.

“SPdH (Groundforce) via a letter signed by its chairman and CEO, have confirmed that it intends to accept the offer from TAP S.A., and the necessary documents for the completion of the acquisition of equipment from the company (Groundforce) is being completed, and the formal approval of SPDH should be given at the next board meeting on 19 March, 2021,” stated TAP in a communiqué yesterday. (18 March)
“To complete this operation, TAP S.A. will hire out to Groundforce all the handling equipment acquired in the meantime so that it can provide the services contracted.”
TAP states that its concern was to “try and resolve the fragile situation in which the 2,400 Groundforce staff were in, as soon as possible, and not for any other reason”.
The airline says that this agreement has “no direct relation with the negotiations which have been ongoing between TAP, SGPS, S.A. – the minority shareholder in SPDH (Groundforce) — and Pasogal – the majority shareholder in the baggage handling company.
The deal will be sealed for €6.97 million. An amount which is necessary and sufficient for SPDH to be able to pay salaries from February 2021 and for March 2021, as well as corresponding taxes for March 2021.