São Paulo – The government of Brazil raised on Friday (22) R$ 20.838 billion (US$ 9.1 billion) in the auction of Galeão airport, in Rio de Janeiro, and Confins, in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, promoted at the São Paulo Stock Exchange (Bovespa). The minimum bid for the terminal in Rio was R$ 4.828 billion (US$ 2.1 billion) and that for the Belo Horizonte terminal was R$ 1.096 billion (US$ 478 billion). The airport in Rio de Janeiro was auctioned for R$ 19.018 billion (US$ 8.3 billion), a premium of 293.91% over the starting bid, and Confins was auctioned to the private initiative for R$ 1.82 billion (US$ 795 million), with a premium of 66%.<\/p>\n
The Aeroportos do Futuro consortium, to manage Galeão for the next 25 years, includes Odebrecht (with a 60% share) and Excelente B.V., which includes company Changi, which manages Singapore Airport, and has won several awards. Among them, that of English consultancy company Skytrax, which classifies the best airports and airlines in the world each year. This year, Changi was elected the best.<\/p>\n
Confins airport, in turn, will be run for 30 years by the AeroBrasil consortium, which includes the Concession Participation Company (CPC), controlled by CCR, to have a 75% share of the consortium. AeroBrasil also includes Zurich Airport International AG (24%) and Munich International Beteiligungs GMBH (1%), which, respectively, control the airports of Zurich, in Switzerland, and Munich, in Germany. In the 2013 Skytrax award, Munich airport was elected the 6th best airport in the world, and Zurich, the 7th.<\/p>\n
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Another three Brazilian airports have already been granted to the private initiative: Guarulhos, in São Paulo, Viracopos, in Campinas, and Brasília airport. As in these cases, the consortiums winning the auction on Friday will have a 51% share. The other 49% will be in the hands of the Brazilian Airport Infrastructure Company (Infraero), the state-owned company that managed the terminals in the past.<\/p>\n
According to information disclosed by Agência Brasil, Galeão airport received five written proposals in the first phase of the auction. The best proposal was maintained when the dispute went on to the second, open-outcry phase. The tender for Confins had three proposals in the written auction and another three in the open-outcry phase. The Aliança Atlântica consortium offered R$ 1.8 billion for Confins, a value covered by Aerobrasil.<\/p>\n
Refurbishment and expansion<\/strong><\/p>\n The signing of the contracts for concession is scheduled to take place in March 2014. Once the companies have been granted the concession of the airports, Infraero will continue in charge of the terminals for another 120 days, albeit accompanied by the consortium. After that, the companies will take charge of the concession, but will manage the airports in partnership with Infraero, for another 90 days, which may be extended for another 90. Only after this period will they take on all operations.<\/p>\n In both cases, the winning consortiums will need to develop improvement projects according to government deadlines. For Galeão, the forecast is that over R$ 12 billion should be invested during the concession period. By late 2015, the airport must inaugurate a parking lot for 1,850 vehicles and by late 2016, it should build 26 boarding bridges and have a patio for 97 aircraft. The government expectation is that the passenger throughput at Galeão should climb from the current 17.5 million passengers a year to 60 million late into the concession.<\/p>\n Confins airport, which currently receives 10.4 million passengers a year, according to the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac), should receive 43 million passengers in 2043, when the concession ends. The airport should receive investment of over R$ 3 billion. Up to April 2016, Confins will have to inaugurate a passenger terminal and expand its aircraft patio. Up to 2020, a second runway should be built.<\/p>\n *Translated by Mark Ament<\/strong><\/p>\n