LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Lufthansa is buying a 44.9% stake in Portuguese flag carrier TAP Air Portugal in a deal the Portuguese government valued at 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion), officials announced Wednesday, in the latest effort to privatize the airline.
The German airline outbid Air France-KLM, the only other company in the race, Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said.
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The government set aside 5% of the company for its more than 9,000 employees to buy shares, with the government remaining the main shareholder.
The deal still requires approval by European Union regulators. The government may conclude TAP’s complete privatization by 2028, Montenegro said.
TAP says it carried 16.7 million passengers last year. Its more than 90 aircraft fly to over 90 destinations, 52 of them in Europe, 16 in Central and South America, 14 in Africa and 11 in North America.
Its routes to Brazil are particularly prized, analysts say.
The airline made a net profit last year of 4.1 million euros ($4.6 million), according to the company’s published accounts.
Two previous attempts to sell off stakes in the airline, in 1998 and 2015, failed, with governments taking the company back into Portuguese state ownership.
