Swissport in Lisbon to acquire Groundforce

  • ECO News
  • 16 June 2021

Shareholder Alfredo Casimiro has not yet given up on selling his stake in the handling company, which he is currently negotiating with Swissport.

Groundforce is in the process of being sold and there are several interested parties in the handling company. After the Spanish Fund Atitlan walked away and the negotiations with the Belgian Aviapartner have slowed down, it is now the turn of the Swiss Swissport. According to ECO, the company’s CEO is in Lisbon to make technical visits and evaluate the operation.

Right at the beginning of the year, when the company’s financial difficulties began (caused by the impact of the pandemic in the aviation sector), there were expressions of interest from several international players to buy Groundforce. After months of negotiations with TAP (major client and minority shareholder with 49.9% of the capital), Alfredo Casimiro (owner of 50.1% through Pasogal) announced on May 8 that he was available to sell his stake.

The investor has hired the Nomura bank to advise on a possible deal. After the end of a period of exclusive negotiations with the Spanish Atitlan, Casimiro said he had given “instructions” that “special attention should be given to Aviapartner”, a Belgian company that had already tried to buy Groundforce a decade ago. But these talks also failed to reach a conclusion, and even if there is still this possibility, ECO knows that the parties cannot agree on the price.

The preferred partner is now Swissport, whose CEO Eric Born has been in Lisbon in recent days making technical visits to Groundforce. As with the Belgians, the Swiss had already been among those interested in buying the handling company a decade ago, when TAP was forced by European competition authorities to reduce its stake and become a minority shareholder.

At the time, everything seemed on track for a sale to Aviapartner, but the delay in the process at a time when Groundforce was up against the clock to be able to bid for ground handling licences at Lisbon and Porto airports led to last-minute changes. The airline again contacted the initial interested parties in the acquisition, including Grupo Urbanos de Casimiro, which ended up closing the purchase.

Now, the business is back on the market, despite Groundforce being at risk of insolvency following a request made by TAP itself. At the time, the majority shareholder warned that the sale could be at risk and wrote to the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Pedro Nuno Santos, “seeking to make him aware of the fact” that the decision “would contribute greatly to the worsening situation of the” handling company.

TAP’s participation is not expected to be included in this deal, but interim CEO Ramiro Sequeira has already said that no scenario is out of the question. ECO tried to contact Pasogal, TAP and the Portuguese government on the matter but did not get a response.