Portugal’s Competition Authority has given the go-ahead to the purchase of TAP by the Atlantic Gateway consortium.
"The Competition Authority issued on 15 September a draft decision not to oppose this deal because this is an operation that does not raise competition concerns," said António Ferreira Gomes, president of the Competition Authority.
"None of the purchasers of shares controlling TAP has activity on routes where TAP operates,” said Gomes, adding that there is no risk of TAP eliminating competition on the routes to Brazil.
The proposed investment by US businessman David Neeleman (pictured) and the Portuguese transport entrepreneur Humberto Pedrosa will secure 61% of TAP as per the agreement signed in June this year.
Under the Gateway proposal the investment will be in the order of 600 million, of which €345 million will be injected as capital and another €250 million will be for financing the purchase of new aircraft.
The public will receive a cheque payable to the treasury for just €10 million but the Finance Minister will be relieved as TAP borrowings of around €1.2 billion can be moved from the state accounts to a company controlled by independent directors.
The state is to keep a golden share for a couple of years to avoid too much political fallout should TAP turn into a success story ie the taxpayer could benefit from the upside if all goes well.
According to Neeleman, the consortium will buy at least 53 new aircraft, but that number "may be much higher."
The Atlantic Gateway offer has one more hurdle to jump as the deal has yet to be analysed by the National Civil Aviation Authority and the Spanish regulator.
