SAO PAULO, Aug 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Spanish airport operator Aena won the concession to run Brazil’s second-busiest airport, Sao Paulo-Congonhas, and 10 others at an auction Thursday that raised a total initial investment of $530 million.
Fifteen airports in all were on the block at the auction in Sao Paulo, which drew four bidders vying for the right to operate them for the next 30 years, said Brazil’s National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac).
Aena was the only bidder for the bloc considered the “crown jewel” of the auction, which included airports in the states of Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Para, as well as Congonhas, the economic capital’s domestic airport.
But “the winning bid of 2.45 billion reais ($530 million) represented a mark-up of 231 percent over the initial minimum bid of 740.1 million reais,” Anac said.
A lone bidder administered by Brazilian investment management company XP Investimentos meanwhile won the second bloc of two smaller airports — one in Sao Paulo state and one in Rio de Janeiro state — for a bid of 141.3 million reais, near the minimum bid.
A consortium called Novo Norte won the final bloc, beating France’s Vinci for operating rights to the airports in Para state capital Belem and Amapa state capital Macapa.
Its winning offer was 125 million reais, around 120 percent above the minimum bid, Anac said.
