Cabinet will approve resolution on TAP privatisation soon

  • Lusa
  • 14 April 2023

"All this will occur very soon, whether it will be concluded by the end of the year, I cannot guarantee," said PM António Costa.

Portugal’s prime minister, António Costa, said on Friday that the Cabinet will soon approve the resolution on the TAP privatisation process, while refusing to guarantee that it will be completed by the end of the year.

“Very soon, the Cabinet will approve the resolution that triggers the evaluation process, following which the decree-law that defines the concrete terms of the privatisation will be approved,” António Costa said.

“All this will occur very soon, whether it will be concluded by the end of the year, I cannot guarantee,” he added.

The prime minister was speaking on the sidelines of the signing of the collaboration protocol with the Repsol Foundation – Green Engine +Forest Project, in the Noble Hall of the Higher Institute of Agronomy of Lisbon, in Tapada da Ajuda, in Lisbon.

“I will give the horizons, being that, as a rule, haste is a bad adviser and, above all, we should not give a signal to the markets that we are excessively hasty, because otherwise we certainly will not precede the privatisation process in the best conditions,” he noted.

The minister recalled that an international consulting company had made an initial market assessment and noted the interest of several companies and European groups in TAP and in being able to integrate the Portuguese airline into a global strategy.

“For us, there are fundamental conditions [in the privatisation of TAP]. The most important of all has to do with what justified our intervention in TAP which is to ensure the maintenance of an important asset for our economy and a strategic hub for Portugal, particularly for Atlantic relations and with Africa,” he concluded.

António Costa’s statements came on the day that Luís Rodrigues took office as chairman of the board of directors (PCA) and chief executive officer (CEO) of TAP, replacing the ousted CEO Christine Ourmières-Widener.

On Thursday, the chairman of the Securities Market Commission (CMVM) said that TAP is not obliged to inform the market about the privatisation process because it is a bond issuer and not a listed company.

“In the case of bonds, there is no such need to give this information to the market, insofar as it does not interfere with what is relevant” for investors, “which is the value of the bond and the ability to receive the bond,” said Luís Laginha de Sousa, at the parliamentary commission of enquiry into TAP.