Belgrade Airport operator eyes Zagreb counterpart
The operator of Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, VINCI Airports, is considering significantly increasing its stake in the majority state-owned Groupe Aeroports de Paris (ADP), which heads a consortium running Zagreb Airport. The French government owns a 50.6% share in the company and is ready to sell its entire stake. An operating licence of between seventy and ninety years will be imposed on any buyer. According to reports, a number of groups have already expressed interest in purchasing the government's stake. However, the favourite appears to be VINCI, which already owns an 8% share in ADP. Ownership of ADP would secure longer-term revenue streams for VINCI as the group will lose a majority of the 5.3 billion euros it collects in annual revenues from its motorway business as French concessions come to an end over the next fifteen years.
The potential purchase puts nearby counterparts Belgrade and Zagreb airports in an interesting position. VINCI has said the Serbian capital will serve as the company's “hub” in Southeast Europe, a geographical area in which it has not operated in the past. On the other hand, ADP Management (a wholly owned subsidiary of Groupe ADP), which is among the two largest shareholders within the consortium running Zagreb Airport, has described it as a "strategic asset" in its portfolio of airports across the world. Furthermore, it aims to transform Zagreb Airport into a regional hub over the coming years. ADP manages a portfolio of 23 airports worldwide, which handle over 240 million passengers per year. VINCI, which runs 45 airports in twelve countries, is now the second largest airport operator in the world, behind Spain’s Aena but has overtaken ADP following its acquisition of Gatwick.
One of the criteria outlined as part of Belgrade Airport's concession process was that the individual bidder could not hold more than 20% of the share capital or voting rights of an airport with more than one million passengers located within a 450 kilometre radius from Belgrade. ADP itself holds a 20.8% share in Zagreb Airport. VINCI's concession of Belgrade Airport will run until 2043, while Groupe ADP will operate the Zagreb Airport concession until 2042. VINCI Chairman and Chief Executive, Xavier Huillard, said, “If there is an opportunity on ADP, we will try to play a role. We are interested in airports. We already have an 8% stake in ADP, which is a nice asset”.
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