The Portuguese Government announced this Friday that it will ask the two groups interested in the privatization of 45% of TAP to improve their proposals. The decision came after analyzing the Parpública report, which evaluated the binding proposals submitted. The Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, explained that while normally they would proceed directly to final negotiation with a selected competitor, the proposals from both groups have such close overall evaluations that an additional negotiation period with both parties is justified.
The process, known as "best and final offer" (BAFO), will allow the two groups to improve their proposals over several weeks. After receiving the improved versions, the Government will choose a single competitor for the final negotiation. This modality was already provided for in the privatization rules and is considered by sector sources as the best way to ensure public interest.
The evaluations place TAP's total value between 1.6 billion and two billion euros, which means the 45% privatization stake is around 800 million to one billion euros. Air France-KLM and Lufthansa are the two interested groups, having previously conducted due diligence on the Portuguese airline's accounts.
Among the criteria defined by the Executive for the privatization are the immediate cash proceeds, the quality of the industrial and long-term strategic plan, fleet growth, the plan for the new Lisbon airport, investment in operations at Porto and remaining airports, sustainable fuels, and maintenance and engineering. The Government of Luís Montenegro also left open the possibility of a second privatization phase, subject to an autonomous process. Miguel Madeira, a
