The protracted sale of Portugal’s national airline TAP was finally mapped out by the Council of Ministers yesterday as elsewhere the common man remains “undecided”.
The national feeling that Portugal should hang on to its signature airline is certainly slipping in the wake of a year peppered by strikes, cancellations and extremely embarrassing technical anomalies (see: https://stg.portugalresident.com/hundreds-of-tap-passengers-stranded-in-7th-%E2%80%9Cincident%E2%80%9D-in-six-weeks).
According to a poll published this morning by CM/Aximage, only 46% of those questioned are now against the sale. This is in stark contrast to feelings before 2014 in which almost every citizen has friends or loved ones that have endured misery at the nation’s airports, courtesy of our ‘flagship’ carrier.
Certainly, the government is determined to offload 66% of its ownership, retaining a number of controls and ensuring that it “has a say in the composition of the new administration”.
Releasing an official communiqué after the Council’s meeting, transport minister Sérgio Monteiro said the sale “would not be a loss for the country”, writes Negócios Online.
He added with admirable diplomacy: “We are not seeking significant value with the sale; we seek to give value to the company so that it can grow in the future.”
Thus final proposals from all those said to be interested are now to be presented by the end of March, with negotiations due to be signed up to a month later.
Still in the running are Spanish group Globalia, a consortium headed by Portuguese aristocrat billionaire Miguel Pais do Amaral (see: https://stg.portugalresident.com/tap-in-crisis-as-portuguese-entrepreneur-announces-multi-million-purchase-bid), and Brazilian aviation company Azul with south American entrepreneur Gérman Efromovich (who launched a failed bid to buy the airline two years ago).
With a block over staff lay-offs as part of the deal, and the airline already bidding for a €250 billion bailout to see it through the privatisation process (see: https://stg.portugalresident.com/tap-prays-for-a-miracle), one thing is certain: the Portuguese government is unlikely to laugh all the way to the bank once the deal has been signed.
By NATASHA DONN natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
