Portugal news - What is the Portuguese consortium that is interested in buying Portugal’s national airline TAP?
Portugal’s Secretary of State for Finance has announced that the national airline, TAP, will be privatized within the first six months of 2024. The percentage of Portugal’s national airline to be sold as well as the purchase value have not yet been revealed, however there is now a Portuguese consortium that is interested in buying TAP.
A new Portuguese consortium is currently in the process of being formed with Lacerda Machado and Germán Efromovich, while other potential investors have been approached such as Mário Ferreira of Media Capital and Humberto Pedrosa, a former shareholder of TAP. The consortium is expected to be officially formed in September, to be able to send a formal proposal to the Government at the time when the Terms of Sale will be published.
Lacerda Machado is close to the current regime and has already acted as a government advisor for TAP in the past. Moreover, Mr Machado was an administrator of Geocapital, an investment partner of TAP between 2005 and 2007, until the stake was bought by TAP.
Germán Efromovich is a Bolivian-born entrepreneur and is the former shareholder of Avianca in Latin America, through his company Synergy Group. When his company Synergy Aerospace went bankrupt, he lost his shares in Avianca at the same time when Avianca Brazil filed for bankruptcy in 2018. In July 2022, Germán Efromovich created Italian startup AeroItalia as a non-executive chairman, with investment from French banker Marc Bourgade. AeroItalia has a fleet of 7 aircraft that fly to Greece, Israel, Malta, Romania and the UK. Germán Efromovich tried to buy a stake in TAP in 2015 but he was not selected in the bidding process.
The companies interested in investing in TAP include Air France-KLM and IAG that is the owner of British Airways and Spain’s flag carrier Iberia.
Portugal’s Secretary of State for Finance has however revealed that, whoever buys TAP will have to be able to strengthen its competitive advantage and to grow the business. He added that the choice of the new investor will be based on defending national interests, since the national airline is of strategic importance for Portugal’s economy.