By Sergio Goncalves
LISBON (Reuters) -Portugal’s government expects the partial privatisation of flag carrier TAP to proceed smoothly, backed by a rare cross-party political consensus and interest from Europe’s largest airlines, Infrastructure Minister Miguel Pinto Luz said on Friday.
He said that although the minority centre-right government had initially wanted to sell 100% of TAP, it had settled on offering just 49.9% after the two main opposition parties threatened to block any larger sale, leading to a “broad consensus in parliament” with the far-right Chega party and the Socialists.
“I thank parliament for not delaying the privatisation that is so necessary for the company, it shows that dialogue and mutual respect are always the best way to do politics,” he told a parliamentary committee.
For the sake of transparency, the sale will be monitored and reviewed by a special independent commission and a parliamentary working group.
Portugal relaunched the long-delayed privatisation of TAP in July, aiming to sell a 44.9% stake to an airline that could bring global scale and competitiveness, with an additional 5% to be offered to TAP employees.
Airlines interested in TAP must formally submit a “manifestation of interest” by November 21 and non-binding offers by the end of the year.
Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, and British Airways owner IAG have said they are interested in buying TAP and held meetings with the government over the past year.
(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; editing by Andrei Khalip and Susan Fenton)
