ITALY. Meinl Airports International has been named as the successful bidder for a majority share in Parma Giuseppe Verdi Airport in northern Italy.
Meinl Airports now controls 67% of the share capital, for which it paid €20.5 million. The Meinl plan for Parma Airport also provides for a loan of €17 million and third-party financing of €62 million. Altogether it plans investments of €290 million over 20 years.
The plan provides for two phases, with the first, running from 2008 to 2012, set to renew the entire airport structure. In the second phase – from 2013 to 2018 – a wide range of business, hotel and shopping facilities will be developed, said Meinl Airports.
Towards the end of last year SoGeAP, the company managing the airport, launched a search for a private partner. A public tender attracted six bids from Italian and international companies. Three of the bidders were selected for the final round: Babcock & Brown Infrastrutture Italiane Srl, Galaxy Management Services SA, and Meinl Airports International Ltd. Meinl Airports was chosen this month as the winning bidder.
The agreement still needs to be approved by the Italian Ministry of Transport.
Meinl Airports said its investment aims to “turn Parma Airport into a showpiece for the city and its region, [and deliver] a quality airport that offers point-to-point connections to Europe’s main business and leisure destinations”.
The move marks another step in the emergence of Meinl Airports International as a force in airport investment. In March the company took a 24.9% stake in the Polish airport Bydgoszcz, a stake that may rise to 49%.
And in February Meinl Airports announced its plan to develop a low-cost airport serving Warsaw. It is investing €210 million to develop the former military base of Sochaczew, 40km from the city, which will open in 2011.
In November the company took a 10.1% stake in one of the world’s leading airport groups, Turkey’s TAV Airports.
And as we reported last September, Meinl Airports became the first overseas investor to purchase a Russian airport, with the privatisation of Ulan Ude Airport in the Lake Baikal region of Siberia.
Meinl Airports International was founded in June 2006, as a dedicated investor in airports and airport-related businesses with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe. The company said it concentrates on the non-aeronautical element of airports in particular, such as retail spaces, car parking, offices, hotels and other customer services.
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