TAP close agreement with creditor banks – the Observer

The main creditor banks of the TAP agreed to the extension of the maturity of the loan of 120 million, that won this year, for five more years, until 2022, reported today the Newspaper Business. This was one of the conditions to the closing of any deal that the Government reached with the Atlantic Gateway, Humberto Pedrosa and David Neeleman, and for the State to again be the largest shareholder (with 50%) of the airline.

according To the information disclosed by the Business, the ministry of Planning and Infrastructure has confirmed the conclusion of negotiations with Caixa Geral de Depósitos, the Millennium BCP and the New Bank, the main financiers of the loan in the amount of 120 million euros, which fell due in November of this year. With this agreement, the term to maturity is extended to 2022 and the average interest rate of unsecured debt reduces by 1%.

The renegotiation to restructure the financial liability of the airline was the missing step to complete the business that the Executive woke up with the private in the past year: the State would have 50% of the capital stock of the airline; the Atlantic Gateway, on the other hand – who in November 2015 acquired in the privatization carried out by the Government of Passos Coelho 61% of the TAP – will go through with this operation the hold 45%, the more the actions that have not been purchased in the offer for the staff.

The changes in the administration of some of the banking entities in the past year has caused some delays in the renegotiation process, as admitted by the minister of tutelage, Pedro Marques. Complicating the process will have been blurring for which the General Box of Deposits has passed, both with regard to the process of choosing new managers, as in the negotiation of your capitalization plan. Also, the New Bank changed leadership in 2016.