Business

Lufthansa selected to acquire 44.9% stake in TAP as part of privatization process

The government of Luís Montenegro announced that Lufthansa has been chosen to acquire a stake in TAP, surpassing Air France-KLM in the bidding process.

16 October 2026Tagblick Newsdesk

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Archive photo: Lufthansa selected to acquire 44.9% stake in TAP as part of privatization process — Archive photoPhoto: Rudnick94 · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

The government of Portugal has decided to grant Lufthansa a 44.9% stake in TAP Air Portugal as part of the airline's partial privatization process. The selection was announced during an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, according to various sources.

According to press reports, Lufthansa is expected to make an initial payment corresponding to 2.5% of the offered value for TAP, which could amount to up to 30 million euros. This value was set in a government decree released earlier.

The selection of Lufthansa marks a defeat for the Air France-KLM consortium, which did not receive government approval. The decision was met with discontent from the Franco-Dutch company, which was vying for the stake in the Portuguese airline.

Additionally, Lufthansa believes that the acquisition could generate synergies estimated at 450 million euros. Most of these synergies will be directly obtained from TAP and will be returned to Lufthansa in the form of dividends.

In the stock market, reacting to the news of the selection, Lufthansa's shares declined by 1.58%, while Air France-KLM's shares fell by only 0.14%.

The outcome of the privatization process allows Lufthansa to increase its presence in the European airline sector while also contributing to the financial restructuring of TAP, which is considered a profitable airline.

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