Portuguese government wants to keep stake in TAP after privatization
The Portuguese government wants to keep a stake in the airline TAP, currently 100% state-owned but to be privatized, to ensure the country’s “strategic” interests, although it did not reveal what part of the capital it wants to keep.
“We are going to reprivatize to the extent strictly necessary, to maintain the position that the state should have in TAP and that it should not have any more,” Prime Minister António Costa said in a debate in Parliament.
Costa referred that this participation will not be to “manage TAP on a day-to-day basis”, but to “ensure the country’s strategic objectives”, such as maintaining the “hub” in Lisbon, which they will not “give up”.
→ TAP obtains a net profit of €65.6 million in 2022
“The State has to be effectively in TAP’s capital. Whether it has to be less or more, that depends a lot on who the other partner is,” said the prime minister, who bet on maintaining a “public strategic reserve.”
He defended that the priorities are, in addition to maintaining a “strategic hub for South America and preferably also for North America”, to ensure “territorial continuity” with the islands and the connection with Portuguese communities abroad.
The privatization of TAP will be launched “shortly”, assured Costa, who did not reveal how long the process will take, reported EFE.
TAP is owned by the Portuguese state, which currently holds 100% of the capital after increasing its position to save it following the damage suffered by the pandemic. The airline is currently under a restructuring plan.
The IAG group – parent company of Iberia, British Airways and Vueling – Air France and Lufthansa have already expressed interest in the Portuguese airline.
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