Lufthansa bids cash only for TAP stake sale
Lufthansa has submitted an all-cash offer for TAP, while Air France-KLM had considered including shares, a key difference as Portugal nears a decision on the airline sale.
Lufthansa has submitted an all-cash offer in Portugal’s TAP privatisation, while rival Air France-KLM had considered including shares as part of its bid. The Portuguese government is expected to decide this week on a buyer for a stake that could reach 49.9% of the airline.
According to Arthur Kuntz, an analyst at French independent research firm AlphaValue, Lufthansa told investors it had filed an improved bid that was “entirely in cash”, with a government decision expected by mid-October. Kuntz told ECO that, according to Lufthansa, “the possibility of a share swap was never really on the table”, given the group’s balance sheet strength and liquidity.
ECO said Air France-KLM had at one stage considered offering part of the payment in shares, a possibility previously reported by Jornal Económico and Bloomberg. A source at the Franco-Dutch group declined to comment to ECO on the content of the offer, and the final proposal may or may not include that option.
Portugal’s privatisation terms allow payment through a share swap as an alternative to cash for the TAP stake. Air France-KLM and Lufthansa submitted their final improved binding offers to state holding company Parpública on September 30, and the government has said the selected bidder could still be invited to a final round of negotiations before formal approval.
Originally published at Eco.pt
