Transportes Aereos Portugueses (TAP), Portugal's state-owned flag carrier, may have finally found a ready buyer for its Air Macau stake in the former Portuguese enclave's SAR government.
A report published yesterday in the Diario Economico, a Portuguese newspaper, said TAP would sell its 20 per cent stake in Air Macau to the Macau government, according to Bloomberg.
While no sources were cited in the report, it said the sale would be discussed during a visit this week to Lisbon by Ao Man-long, Macau's secretary for transport and public works.
The newspaper also said Mr Ao was scheduled to meet the TAP board during his Lisbon visit.
TAP is believed to have been trying to unload its stake in the Macanese carrier for at least the past year but has had trouble finding a willing buyer, given its high asking price, believed to be in the 25 million euro (about HK$190.13 million) range.
The Portuguese carrier earlier tried to interest China National Aviation Corp (CNAC) in taking up its stake when CNAC was reshuffling assets with its Hong Kong-listed arm in March.
CNAC, which also controls Dragonair, was one of the founding partners in the HK$385 million joint venture that formed Air Macau - along with TAP, Stanley Ho Hung-sun's Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau and other investors - with a 51 per cent stake.