Richard Browne, Business Reporter Abertis, the Spanish company which owns the major part of the MBJ Airports 30-year concession for Sangster International Airport, has put its stake up for sale. But the company says it has no plans to rush the sale and is looking to make the best deal. Government sources tell Wednesday Business that the sale transaction is on hold pending an upcoming regulatory review of the concession. The proposed sale is part of an Abertis global strategy to exit its airport business. Its Canadian partner in MBJ is said to have right of first refusal. We are divesting from the airport sector. We started last year selling our assets in Europe and some in the US, Marc Gomez Abertis, head of communications, told Wednesday Business from his office in Barcelona, Spain. From a global position last year, Abertis now has interest in only two airport operations - one in Jamaica and the other is a stake in a listed company in Mexico which operates 12 airports, Gomez said. The company had taken the decision to concentrate more on its core business of toll road operation. Abertis has some 7,500 kilometres of toll roads, primarily in Europe and Latin America, making it the largest global player in that industry. Although the company has had interest, the deals are not closed, and as Abertis is a listed company, we cant say anything more, Gomez said. The decision to sell was not moved by needing money for reducing debt or anything like that, but rather to focus our activities on our core business, which is toll roads, he said. It was important to make that distinction, Gomez said, as it means we are not in a hurry to sell, but will take the time to find the best option. We will ask for regulatory approval when we have a deal on the table. Right now, we have nothing, Gomez said. Abertis owns a 74.5 per cent stake in MBJ Airports Limited, a tri-partnership, which owns and operates Sangster, Jamaicas largest airport. Vantage Airport Group out of Canada, formerly Vancouver Airport Services, holds the remaining 25.5 per cent stake. Vantage would not be drawn into discussing whether it was considering buying the stake. We cant speak to that - there are certain conditions as part of the contract which, according to MBJ Airports Chief Commercial Officer Elizabeth Brown Scotton, prevents Vantage from speaking publicly. It is a shareholder matter, said Brown Scotton. The commercial officer said Vantage would respond officially to Wednesday Business queries, but the responses were outstanding up to press time. Abertis will be the third partner of an original gang of four to exit the concession. There were originally four members; two exited in the summer of 2007, said Brown Scotton. At that time, both Abertis and Vantage increased their holdings in MBJ. Before making any sale, Abertis will require regulatory approval from the Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ). Abertis has told AAJ of its interest in disposing of its MBJ holdings and has officially notified the AAJ on the sale of its airports globally, said AAJ President Earl Richards. Asked if the Airports Authority would need to approve whichever new company was to take over the Abertis share, Richards said there were certain obligations that would need to be fulfilled. Abertis, which previously had positions in 29 global airports, has been in the process of deconsolidating its global airport business since 2013. Last year, Abertis sold several of its operations, including the Luton airport in London, the Cardiff Airport in Wales, Belfast International in Northern Ireland, the Stockholm airport in Sweden, and the Orlando airport in Florida, United States. The concessionaires have pumped, to date, US$193 million into capital projects at Sangster since the takeover of the airport in 2003, including the expansion of the terminal building, Brown Scotton said. MBJs most current project is a US$20m overlay and expansion of the runway. PRIMARY GATEWAY The airport company estimates that 72 per cent of Jamaicas visitors use Sangster as their primary gateway. Last year, MBJ Airports counted 3.488 million passenger movements in and out of Jamaica through Sangster and 39,491 aircraft movements. Passengers were up from 3.38 million in 2012. At peak, the airport can handle up to 4,200 passengers, the concessionaire says on its website. Vantage has a global network of airports: four in Canada, the Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau, Bahamas; the Liverpool John Lennon Airport in the United Kingdom; and the Pafos and Larnaka International airports in Cyprus. But like Abertis, it, too, has been downsizing its airport businesses. Its past portfolio included six airports in the Dominican Republic, four in Honduras, two other airports in the UK, two in the Turks and Caicos, one in Bermuda, and also the Canadian Rockies International Airport in Canada.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 13:09:19 +0000
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