Brazilian-Colombian millionaire Germán Efromovich (pictured)has delivered an acquisition proposal to purchase Portuguese airline TAP, in compliance with the deadline established by the government.
Parpública, the entity which manages the State’s participation in companies, has now five working days to respond to the proposal.
The Portuguese government had established 12 noon last Friday as the deadline for the investor (last-standing candidate to TAP’s privatisation) to deliver any proposal and Efromovich complied. Parpública will now analyse the proposal and produce a report to assist the special committee for privatisations in its decision-making.
Efromovich already owns two airline companies in South America (Avianca Brasil and Avianca, a fusion between both Colombian and Peruvian Tacas), and was the only one to present a preliminary proposal back in September. Regardless, it is not certain that the deal will happen if Portugal’s interests are not met, in which case the investor will receive no financial recompense whatsoever.
If the deal goes ahead and Portugal accepts the €1.5 billion acquisition proposal, Efromovich intends to turn the airline company into a bridge between Europe and South America, having assured already it will invest in the company’s growth whilst keeping the TAP brand. But to do that, Efromovich will have to recapitalise the company and take on a debt of €1.2 billion, which means that the impact of this privatisation on Portugal’s public purse will not be significant.
