United Airlines and Lufthansa are in negotiations to acquire the 45% stake in TAP Air Portugal, currently held by Atlantic Gateway Consortium, according to a report from the Portuguese media.
Lisbon-published Jornal de Negocios, has reported that the Atlantic Gateway Consortium(AGC) , a partnership between aviation entrepreneur David Neeleman and Portuguese businessman Humberto Pedrosa, are looking to offload their 45% stake in the carrier.
The remainder of Tap is owned by the Portuguese government (50%) and its employees (5%)
While both Air France-KLM and IAG have been named by Portuguese media as potential buyers of AGC’s stake, Jornal de Negocios has reported that Lufthansa and United Airlines are already in negotiations.
Despite TAP’s earnings for 2019 report showing an 8.2% year on year increase in passenger traffic it still recorded a €105.6m ($114.67m) loss for the year. However, it’s large Brazilian business, and broader Latin American network could be a good strategic fit for both United and Lufthansa.
Lufthansa and United eye stake in Tap
