Portuguese gov't nominates commission to supervise national airline privatization

The Portuguese government on Wednesday nominated the three members of a special commission to supervise the privatization process of flagship airline TAP, according to Portuguese Lusa News Agency.

The president of the commission, due to start working as of Wednesday, is Joao Augusto Cantiga, who has a background in the banking, telecommunication and risk management sectors.

The other two members of the commission are Jose Manuel Morais Cabral, the founder of the Portuguese Industrial Confederation (CIP) and current president of pharmaceutical company GENERIS, and Duarte Manuel Pitta Ferraz, who was director of audits at Deloitte, Phillip Morris in the United States and at Black & Decker.

TAP's privatization is one of the terms set in the bailout program Portugal signed in 2011 with its troika of international lenders -- the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Central Bank. Portugal made a "clean exit" from the bailout program in May 2014.

Portugal decided to sell off 66 percent of TAP, and the government will retain a 34 percent stake, which it can sell two years after the sale of the first batch of stake.

Portugal re-launched the concession of TAP in November 2014, after the first attempt was stalled at the end of 2012 because Brazilian investor German Efromovich, owner of Avianca airline brands in South America, didn't meet the necessary banking requirements in time.

In January of this year TAP announced it was imposing a ban on firing employees en masse as long as the state is a shareholder of the company. Endit