BRAZIL. Spain’s airport group AENA has captured a contract valued at R1.9 billion (US$498 million) to run six airports in Brazil’s northeast, after winning one of three packages in a competitive tender today. In related news, Zürich Airport won the rights to operate two airports in the southeast of the country, while a Brazilian consortium won four airports in the mid-west.
AENA will run the airports of Recife, Maceió, Aracajú, Campina Grande, João Pessoa and Juazeiro do Norte, which handle 13 million passengers a year or 6.5% of Brazilian airport traffic. The Spanish company noted that this was its biggest international investment yet. These airports join other overseas operations in the UK, Mexico, Colombia and Jamaica.
The concession runs for an initial 30 years with the option of a further five. AENA said that it expected to take over operations in the final quarter of the year.
Meanwhile, Zürich Airport has been awarded the 30-year concession contract for the airports of Vitória und Macaé in the southeast of Brazil. The airports handled around 3.2 million passengers in 2018.
The investments associated with the expansion of the airports are expected to amount to CHF80 million (around US$80 million) in the first few years, with an upfront payment of R437 million (US$114 million) also due. Additionally, the consortium will pay a yearly revenue-based fee starting on the fifth anniversary of signing the concession agreement.
Flughafen Zürich AG has been operating airports in Brazil since 2014. The current portfolio includes a minority shareholding of the operating company of Belo Horizonte Airport and a stake of Hercilio Luz Airport in Florianópolis.
The newly acquired airports are expected to generate incremental high single-digit EBITDA in Swiss Francs from 2020.
Finally, a group of Brazilian companies led by infrastructure group Socicam and services firm Sinart won the mid-west group of airports in Cuiaba, Sinop, Rondonopolis and Alta Floresta, the third package put to tender.
