The privatisation process of TAP Air Portugal will start from October 2023, confirmed João Galamba, Infrastructure Minister. The privatization was originally planned to start in July, as per the government's comments in April after two independent advisers established TAP Air Portugal's estimated value at the time.
But things got delayed as Parpública hired Ernst & Young and Banco Finantia to value the airline on July 4. According to Parpública, the additional valuation was part of the airline's privatization process as the government still intends to keep a strategic stake and will not offer all its capital.
With the additional valuation to determine the sale price began just recently without any deadline, experts feel that the privatisation launch will be delayed beyond this month.
The Finance Minister Fernando Medina states that the process is likely to take many months and will be conducted next year given what’s at stake and the interested parties involved. Many large carriers like Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, and the International Airlines Group (IAG) have shown interest in acquiring stake in TAP.
"The government will seek to approve the privatization as quickly as possible, which is legally dependent on two independent advisers establishing the airline's value. But since it is a large-scale transaction, the growth of the company, expansion of activity, keeping the hub in Lisbon, protecting the brand, and the operations of TAP Air Portugal will also be critical issues,” commented Medina.
Once all these factors and values are adequately considered and settled, all the terms and conditions of the sale will eventually be set out in a government decree. The framework will finally kickstart the privatization process, and the government decree will not be done by this month but will happen before or by this upcoming October.