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Kerrie Mather: “We’re targeting to have the tender finalised by the end of June” |
AUSTRALIA. Sydney Airport has attracted six submissions, including one joint venture, for its duty free contract which is due to be awarded next month.
“When bids closed seven parties had lodged bids. Two then formed a joint venture,” said Kerrie Mather, CEO of Macquarie Airports, the lead shareholder in Sydney Airport.
Speaking at today’s Gate One conference in Singapore, she described all the offers as excellent and high quality. “We’re targeting to have the tender finalised by the end of June,” she said.
Sydney Airport Corporation General Manager Retail & Commercial Development Bob McFadyen told The Moodie Report later that he was not in a position to divulge the identities of the six parties, nor the joint venture. But he said he was delighted with the quality of all the responses.
The companies to have attended the most recent briefing in late March are understood to have been DFS Group, The Nuance Group, Aelia/Newslink, King Power (HK) with New Zealand company Aotea Souvenirs, HMSHost (the Autogrill-owned sister company to Aldeasa), South Korea’s Lotte Group, Dufry, James Richardson and World Duty Free/Crossbar Associates joint venture Global Airport Services.
King Power/Aotea chose not to bid and it is thought that Global Airport Services did likewise. The joint venture is thus almost certainly between two of the companies named above.
The new contract commences on 1 November 2006. The incumbent is The Nuance Group which has run the business since it acquired Downtown Duty Free in the mid 1990s.
