Portugal Airlines shares decided to be sold to Germany's Lufthansa, aiming for full privatization in 2028

[Paris Current Affairs] The Portuguese government announced on the 14th that it will sell up to 49.9% of its shares to German airline Lufthansa in an effort to privatize the state-owned airline TAP Portugal. The sale price is up to 1,201 million euros (approximately 212 billion yen). The bidding was a one-on-one battle between the company and Air France-KLM, but Lufthansa's offer was 16% higher, and the government evaluated the proposal as ``incorporating the possibility of new investment in Portugal.''

Lufthansa plans to acquire the remaining 50.1% stake in TAP from the Portuguese government in exchange for cash and shares by July 2028, which would make TAP fully privatized. The total sale price is expected to reach up to 2.552 billion euros (approximately 450 billion yen).

TAP's strengths include routes to South America and Africa. In a statement, the Portuguese government said it had "determined that the sale would protect the country's strategic interests," stressing that Lufthansa "has the scale, resources and ambition that are essential for the sustainable growth of TAP."