A decision on the privatization of the Portuguese national carrier TAP will be made in June, Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho announced in a statement early Saturday, according to dpa. Portugal's centre-right government had previously announced that it planned to sell of 66 per cent of the company and set the deadline for bids on Friday past. Three bids have been received, according to the state-run Lusa news agency: one from Columbian-Brazilian multi-millionaire German Efromovich, one from US entrepreneur David Neeleman and one from Portuguese businessman Miguel Pais do Amaral. No further details on the offers were given. Portugal is part-privatizing the national airline in a bid to lighten its national debt burden. A previous privatization attempt failed three years ago. The leader of the opposition socialists, Antonio Costa, has announced that his party will maintain state control over the airline if it wins the general election due to be held later this year.
