Avianca (Bogotá) majority owner, Germán Efromovich, is considering taking a stake in either Alitalia (AZA, Rome Fiumicino) or LOT Polish Airlines (LO, Warsaw Chopin) to boost his carrier group's presence in Europe. In an interview with Polish daily, Rzeczpospolita, Mr Efromovich said that the acquisition of a stake in either carrier was one of two options open to him; the other being to build a new European carrier from scratch. "We must take the decision regarding our future purchase no later than in the first two months of 2014," Efromovich said. "I must boost the presence of my airline in Europe, either through acquisitions or by starting a new company. I am certainly looking at Alitalia and LOT," he added. For their parts, both the Italian and Polish governments have been in the hunt for a wealthy foreign investor capable of turning their flagging national carriers' fortunes around. However, this is not the first time Mr Efromovich has attempted to enter the European market. Late last year, his group, Synergy Aerospace, won a tender for a controlling stake in TAP Portugal (Lisbon), only to lose it after it failed to provide the requisite financial guarantees. By virtue of his Polish-Jewish ancestry, Mr Efromovich has been able to secure Polish citizenship thereby allowing him to skirt strict EC laws which cap foreign ownership of European carriers to 49%.