TAP sold handling stake to Menzies for €1
TAP sold its 49.9% stake in Portuguese handler SPdH to Menzies for €1, completing an EU restructuring commitment while extending repayment of €13 million in debt to 2030.
TAP sold its 49.9% stake in Portuguese ground handling company SPdH to Britain’s Menzies for €1 on June 11, 2026, according to the airline’s first-half consolidated accounts, closing a disposal tied to its EU-backed restructuring plan. The symbolic price matters because it completes one of the commitments linked to the state-supported rescue of Portugal’s flag carrier.
TAP said the €1 price was supported by independent technical valuations and reflected SPdH’s financial position as well as the framework of newly negotiated ground handling contracts between the parties. Menzies already owned the other 50.1% after acquiring it under SPdH’s insolvency plan, which took effect in June 2024. TAP had obtained its 49.9% stake by converting SPdH debt into equity, at a value of €2.49 million.
The airline also agreed with Menzies to renegotiate part of SPdH’s debt to TAP. Of the €25.6 million still owed, €13 million relates to older claims and will now be repaid on December 31, 2030, with an implicit annual effective interest rate of 6.6%, the report said. Another €1.1 million of insolvency-related claims is due in 2028 and 2029, while €12.3 million linked to scale gains and penalties under the handling services contract is also outstanding, with €4 million due this year and the rest in 2027.
TAP’s board said it does not see recovery of those amounts as being at risk, citing the handling licence tender process for Lisbon, Porto and Faro, in which the first-ranked Spanish Clece/South consortium was excluded by regulator ANAC, potentially clearing the way for Menzies to have the licences revalidated. That process is still before the regulator.
SPdH, also known as Groundforce, entered insolvency after TAP itself sought the process in 2021. Under the restructuring plan agreed with the European Commission in December 2021, which enabled a €2.55 billion capital injection into TAP, the airline had committed to sell this stake. TAP said that disposal, together with the sale of Cateringpor, allowed it to close that file with Brussels.
Originally published at Eco.pt