Ernst & Young, Finantia to asses TAP for privatisation
The government plans to approve by this month the decree law that will launch the privatisation of TAP, followed by the approval of a cabinet resolution that will define the terms of the process.
Parpública has hired Ernst & Young and Banco Finantia to carry out independent assessments of TAP as part of the privatisation that is being prepared, the state-owned holding company announced on Tuesday.
“As part of the reprivatisation process of TAP, S. A., Parpública, SGPS, SA reports that it has hired Ernst & Young, S.A. and Banco Finantia to carry out the assessments referred to in the Privatisation Framework Law,” a statement sent to news outlets said.
On 27 April, the cabinet approved the resolution that mandates Parpública to hire independent evaluations needed for the TAP privatisation.
The government plans to approve by this month the decree law that will launch the privatisation of TAP, followed by the approval of a cabinet resolution that will define the terms of the process and the specifications.
In January, some media reports said that TAP would be advised on the privatisation by US consultancy Evercore.
During the airline’s commission of inquiry, it was revealed that the consultancy had been providing services to TAP for several months without a contract.
The secretary of state for finance, João Nuno Mendes, said in his hearing at the commission of inquiry that the government was totally unaware of the request for advice to Evercore for the reprivatisation and also stressed that “it was made clear to TAP that the privatisation process was conducted exclusively by the Portuguese state,” that consultants would be “autonomously decided by the state,” usually by Parpública, and that no confidential information could be shown to any competitor of the Portuguese flag carrier.
“When this possibility was raised, the Portuguese government rejected this possibility, […] even if it was not a legal issue, it is a question of conflict of interest, it is the government that determines the consultants,” reiterated the secretary of state, stressing he understood the company’s initiative to prepare for the process.
