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BRAZIL. ANAC, Brazil’s national civil aviation agency, has released the key terms governing the auction of management concessions for Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport (Galeão) in Rio de Janeiro, and Tancredo Neves International Airport (Confins) serving Belo Horizonte.
It is taking the draft Auction Notice and Concession Agreement for the two airports into a process of public consultation, which will close on 30 June.
For Galeão, ANAC proposes a concession term of 25 years with an optional five-year extension. The Rio gateway currently has 17.5 million passengers a year and is projected to have 60 million by 2038.
The minimum bid for Galeão will be R$4.645 billion (US$2.17 billion), with a variable contribution to the National Civil Aviation Fund (FNAC) of 5% of annual gross revenue.
Meanwhile at Confins, which handles 10.4 million passengers a year, a 30-year concession term (with five-year optional extension) will take management through to 2043, when predicted annual passenger volume will be 43 million.
The minimum contribution sought for Confins will be R$ 1.561 billion (US$730 million), also with the annual 5% variable contribution.
To qualify for the bidding, consortia must include at least one company experienced in managing an airport with more than 35 million passengers a year.
One or two operators with this experience must constitute at least 25% of shares in the consortium (compared with 10% in the 2012 airport auctions).
Airlines are allowed to participate in a consortium provided their share is no greater than 4%.
During the concession period, Galeão should garner investment of around R$5.2 billion (US$2.4 billion) while Confins receives an estimated R$3.5 billion (US$1.6 billion).
ANAC expects final notice of the privatisation to be published in September, and the auction to be held in October 2013.
The auction for the two airports will be held simultaneously, and each consortium will be able to win only one of the two.
ANAC confirmed that state airport authority Infraero would maintain its 49% share in the new airport management companies.
As with the concessions granted in 2012 for Brasilia, Guarulhos and Viracopos airports, once the contracts are finalised the new operators will enter into a transitional phase.
Infraero will continue administration of the airports for four months, then the private concessionaire and Infraero will administer jointly for a minimum of three and maximum of six months, before the concessionaire takes full control.
