Brazil also interested in TAP

The number of parties interested in joining the race to buy TAP has grown this week after a Brazilian parliamentary commission discussed on Thursday the possibility of Brazil entering the privatisation race.

The sale conditions for the airline are not yet known, but the matter was discussed at an audience with the Brazilian minister of tourism and a representative of the Portuguese airline.
“Brazil should acquire a piece (of TAP) through national resources”, together with European or Portuguese partners so that a controlling share solution of TAP can be built with the Portuguese State that serves Brazilian interests”, said the Brazilian MP from the Workers Party, Washington Quaquá and quoted by the news agency Lusa.
The MP explained that the eventual goal of the partnership would be to create an international hub at Galeão Airport, Rio de Janeiro and Lisbon airport for flight links between Brazil and Portugal, as well as Europe, Africa, and Latin America.
It now means that five entities have shown an interest in TAP including three of the largest aviation groups in Europe: Air France-KLM, IAG (British Airways and Iberia) and Lufthansa and Germán Efromovich, ex-owner of Avianca who in the past was a front runner to buy Portugal’s national airline.
A decree law will fire the starting gun in the race for the airline and at the same time the government will set the percentage of TAP that it intends to sell off. This should happen at some time over this autumn.
The consultants EY and Banco Finantia have already delivered their preliminary reports into how much the airline is worth but the public will only get that information in October by which time the bill for the sale of a percentage of the airline will be put forward for parliamentary approval before the State Budget has to be delivered on October 10.