Parties interested in buying up the Portuguese flag carrier TAP-Air Portugal have been approved by the pre-selection process and have until midday on 7 December to get their bids in, the Ministry of Finance announced Tuesday.

The details published in the government gazette suggest that there is not going to be a major rush given “it was determined that a potential buyer has been accepted for the second phase in the privatisation process.”

Thus, the only entity accepted in the running for a direct stake in TAP is the Brazilian group Synergy Aerospace, owned by the Colombian-Brazilian magnate, Gérman Efromovitch and part of a group featuring a portfolio of transport, energy and construction holdings.

However, Tuesday’s announcement demonstrates that the Portuguese authorities adjudged “the interested party holds the appropriate technical experience in the civil aviation sector” and is in a position to run TAP “as a competitive business structure.”