The owner of Colombian airline Avianca SA is considering a takeover of Italian airline Alitalia or Polish flag carrier LOT Polish Airlines, a Polish newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Rzeczpospolita daily said that Colombian-Brazilian businessman German Efromovich is eyeing to acquire the two carriers to boost his presence in Europe. 

Any such purchase by Efromovich would likely be carried out independently of Avianca.The report, quoting an Avianca spoksperson, said that Efromovich may have been speaking in a personal capacity, not on behalf of the company. 

Efromovich told the Polish newspaper that another option for him was to build a new airline from scratch in Europe. He added that the decision regarding his future purchase must be taken no later than the first two months of 2014.

Avianca in a statement said that neither Avianca Holdings SA as controlling company nor Aerovias del Continente Americano SA Avianca have considered or are considering the acquisition of Alitalia or LOT.