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Air France-KLM keen on TAP stake; eyes fresh capital

Air France-KLM remains interested in acquiring TAP Air Portugal (TP, Lisbon) should the Portuguese government launch a reprivatisation process, albeit only if it does not dilute the holding's margins.

"We do find it a very interesting opportunity. It's not yet an opportunity but one that we expect to come into play. There still needs to be a government motion passed in Portugal to open the sale process formally... It's very interesting and could potentially be accretive to our bottom line performance. However, we are not going to enter any type of M&A that puts risk to the 7% to 8% margin we've committed to in the next 2 to 3 years," Group Chief Executive Ben Smith said during a quarterly earnings call.

Smith underlined that TAP is attractive thanks to its strong position in Latin America, particularly in Brazil, from its Lisbon base. He stressed, however, that Air France-KLM is margin-focused and would not "grow just for the sake of growing".

The Portuguese government plans to launch a reprivatisation tender shortly, although...