Synergy Mulls Right Price for TAP Before Dec. 7 Deadline

--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 [e-mail]

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