“Government will take over 90%” of TAP

The idea is that TAP will pay back part of the 1.2 billion euros loan, but it will all depend on the company’s recovery in the coming years. Anticipating that this will be difficult, the minister of infrastructure, Pedro Nuno Santos, admits to the dilution of remaining shareholders, with the State taking “over 90%” of TAP.

“We know that between one part and the whole may have to be converted into capital. TAP is a company with a very unbalanced balance sheet, with a mountain of debt, and it is natural that the European Commission requires the conversion of part or all of it into capital,” said the minister in an interview with Antena 1 and Jornal de Negócios.

TAP has private shareholders – the workers (5%) and Humberto Pedrosa (22.5%). “If a partner does not follow, it dilutes. It cannot be done differently. It’s natural that the private partner, whom we value greatly and with whom we have a very good relationship, who does not have the capacity or interest to accompany, naturally ends up diluting”, he says. And he admits that the Portuguese State will end up with “over 90%” of the company.