In the case of partial privatization of more than 51% of TAP's capital, the State will be able to keep between 10% and 20% of the shares. The
Government's objective is to guarantee a presence at the board of directors and
give voice to the general national interest, according to Jornal Económico.
This is one of two scenarios the Government is currently
working on. Even so, a scenario of total privatization of the national airline
remains open, adds the weekly.
So far, the privatization process is in the sights of three funds (one of them the US fund Certares, which owns 40% of Douro Azul) and three aviation groups (Lufthansa, Air France/KLM and IAG–Iberia/British Airways). The Minister of Economy, António Costa Silva, admitted that the owner of Iberia “is not the best option”, after having defended the opposite, and justified that his function is to find the largest possible number of interested parties, to make the process more competitive.
“The Government's objective is to guarantee a presence at the board of directors and give voice to the general national interest,” - presumably the government had seats on the board under the last disastrous ‘privatisation’ so the nation’s taxpayers will draw no comfort from the above statement.
By Paul Rees from Beiras on 10 Feb 2023, 16:29