--Board member Jose Efromovich says Synergy to present binding
offer
--Purchase is seen as European entry point
--Efromovich brothers in process of obtaining E.U. passports
By Darcy Crowe
PANAMA CITY--Synergy Group Corp, a conglomerate that controls
Colombian carrier AviancaTaca, is mulling the purchase price it
will present in a binding offer to take control of Portuguese
airline TAP before a Dec. 7 deadline, one of the group's board
members said Friday.
Jose Efromovich, a board member of Synergy and the brother of
Bolivian-born magnate German Efromovich, who is spearheading the
acquisition, said the group "is evaluating a figure that makes
sense and we have a deadline of Dec. 7" to present the offer.
"We have a group of 38 people studying this," Mr. Efromovich
said in the sidelines of an airline conference in Panama. The
Portuguese government said in October it had selected Synergy as
the sole bidder in the privatization of state-owned flagship
carrier TAP Air Portugal.
Mr. Efromovich said Synergy would present an offer but declined
to unveil the amount. "The main attraction for us in this purchase
is that it is an entry point into Europe," Mr. Efromovich said. "We
are going to present an offer that squares with our diligence work
and what we find."
Mr. Efromovich and his brother are the sons of Polish immigrants
who moved to Bolivia after World War II. Both are in the process of
obtaining Polish passports to comply with European Union rules that
prohibit non-European shareholders from controlling more than 49%
of E.U. carriers.
Write to Darcy Crowe at darcy.crowe@dowjones.com
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