Lufthansa Group and the Portuguese government have signed an agreement for the group to acquire an initial 44.9% stake in TAP Air Portugal for €1.025 billion. Signed at Humberto Delgado Airport in Lisbon, the deal advances Portugal’s privatisation process but is not yet complete: the acquisition remains subject to regulatory approvals, particularly from the European Commission. Lufthansa will fund the investment from available liquidity.
The stake could rise to 49.9% if Lufthansa acquires shares initially offered to TAP employees. Including a ticking fee, the total price could reach €1.2 billion. No completion date has been specified.
Lufthansa estimates that a minority holding would allow it to realise most of the synergies it puts at up to €450 million. The group plans to develop Lisbon as its seventh hub and expand TAP’s connections between Portugal, Brazil, Portuguese-speaking Africa and North America. Lufthansa estimates that its share of traffic between Europe and Latin America would increase from about 9% to approximately 20% with TAP.
Lufthansa’s airlines currently operate 353 weekly flights to six destinations in Portugal. A Lufthansa Technik site planned near Porto is expected to help increase the group’s direct employment in the country to more than 1,000 by 2030.