Germany’s Lufthansa has become the second airline group to ‘manifest interest in the privatisation process of TAP’, two days before the deadline for doing so.
In a statement, executive president Carsten Spohr said the objective of the group is to ‘reinforce the global connectivity of Portugal, preserve the Portuguese identity of TAP and guarantee the company’s sustainable growth’.
And he clearly feels the Lufthansa Group is “the best partner for TAP and Portugal”.
“Cooperation would strengthen Lisbon’s position as an Atlantic hub in the Lufthansa Group network (…) connectivity between Europe and other regions of the world, such as South America, Africa and North America, could be expanded” and as a “global leader outside the United States, the Lufthansa group offers the scale, experience and financial stability necessary to create sustainable value and strengthen TAP Air Portugal’s role as the country’s ambassador around the world.”
Operating in Portugal for over 70 years, the Lufthansa Group already offers more than 280 weekly flights to and from Portugal through its various airlines.
Employing more than 400 qualified professionals in the country, it plans to increase this number to 1,000 by 2030 with the construction of the new Lufthansa Technik centre for the repair of engine parts and aircraft components in Santa Maria da Feira.
Assuming the role of ‘a driving force for consolidation in Europe’, the group says it has successfully strengthened national airlines such as SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and, more recently, ITA Airways, while preserving their national identities.
From November 22, Parpública, the company that manages the state’s holdings, has 20 days (until 12 December) to submit a report to the Government describing the interested parties and assessing their compliance with participation requirements.
Within 20 days of the report being made available, interested parties complying with requirements are then invited to submit a non-binding proposal.
This second phase of the process, which will be divided into four stages, requires the proposal to include, among other things, the price offered for the acquisition of the shares and information on how the necessary financial resources to complete the purchase will be obtained.
National or foreign operators can submit applications, individually or in a consortium, provided they meet the defined criteria, including revenues in excess of €5 billion in at least one of the last three years and proven experience in the aviation sector.
Proposals will also be evaluated based on fleet reinforcement, investment in maintenance and engineering, commitment to sustainable fuels, respect for labour commitments and vision regarding a possible strengthening of the shareholder position, in accordance with the recently published specifications.
As the Government announced in July, the privatisation of TAP – which also includes Portugália, TAP Health Care Unit, Cateringpor and SPdH (formerly Groundforce) -is expected to take place over the course of about a year, although the final timetable depends on regulatory approvals.
In addition to the Lufthansa Group, Air France-KLM has also formalised its interest in the TAP privatisation process – and International Airlines Group (AG), owner of British Airways and Iberia, has also publicly expressed its willingness to enter the race.
Detracting somewhat from what is already a massively delayed second-stab at privatisation are the searches by public prosecutors this week of TAP and other entities, over perceived irregularities in the first privatisation 10 years ago.
Source material: LUSA
