Portugal's TAP Privatisation Draws Europe's Top Airlines

By Sergio Goncalves

LISBON (Reuters) -Portugal's state holding company Parpublica said on Saturday it had received only three expressions of interest in a minority stake in flag carrier TAP, all from Europe's largest airlines and none from outside the EU, falling short of government hopes.

 British Airways owner IAG, Air France-KLM and Germany's Lufthansa had already announced that they had formally submitted expressions of interest.

Portugal relaunched the long-delayed privatisation of TAP in July, seeking to sell a 44.9% stake to an airline capable of boosting the company's global scale and competitiveness, with a further 5% to be offered to TAP employees. 

Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said in July that the government expected TAP's privatisation to also draw interest from major airlines outside the European Union, citing the carrier's untapped potential.

The deadline for airlines to formally express interest closed on Saturday at 1700 GMT. 

Parpublica said in a statement it has until December 12 to assess whether the interested airlines meet the criteria, including at least one year of revenue above 5 billion euros in the last three years and financial capacity. 

Non-binding offers are due by mid-March, followed by binding offers detailing price and a strategic plan for TAP. The privatisation is expected to be completed in the second half of 2026.

TAP's most attractive assets are its connections to Brazil, Portuguese-speaking African countries and the United States from its Lisbon hub, which the government wants to keep and expand.

Bernstein analysts valued TAP's 44.9% stake at least 700 million euros ($810 million), based on a full airline valuation of 1.5 billion euros. They said this represents a roughly 25%–30% premium over European peers, justified by TAP's strategic upside.

($1 = 0.8687 euros)

(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; Editing by Toby Chopra)