The Brazilian government has ruled out privatizing Infraero but it intends to sell shares in the state-owned airport operator through an IPO, Transportation Minister Maurício Quintella confirmed to LatinFinance.
The government has hired the German consulting firm Roland Berger to conduct studies on a possible IPO, including options to float a minority stake in the stock market or sell a majority share. Roland Berger is expected to conclude the studies in the next 60 days, Quintella said.
Brazil could do with Infraero what Spain did with the airport operate Aena, Quintella said. The Spanish government earned some $10bn from an IPO in February 2015 but still owns 51% of Aena through Enaire.
If the Brazilian government sells more than 50% of Infraero, it will maintain control of the airport operator through a so-called golden share with special voting rights that override other shareholders. The government could keep a golden share in the federal utility company Eletrobras, which the Investment Partnerships Program, or PPI, approved for sale in August.
The government could also sell Infraero’s 51% stakes in the airport concessions for Guarulhos, Galeão, Confins and Brasília, earning as much as BRL8bn ($2.56bn) from the deals.
Odebrecht agreed to sell its stake in the Galeão airport concession to China’s HNA Infrastructure for BRL60.1m in July, a month after the government allowed the concessionaire to reschedule BRL4.5bn in concession fee payments over the next three years. The concessionaire for Guarulhos has also asked to reschedule payments, while the Viracopos operator has decided to return the airport to the government.
The PPI is preparing two packages of airport concessions, with six airports in the northeast in one block and five airports in the central-west in the other. The airports in the northeast require BRL2.73bn in estimated investments over the course of the 30-year concession, while the central-west airports require BRL1.08bn, according to the PPI.
The PPI also plans to grant 30-year concessions for Congonhas in São Paulo, with BRL1.83bn in estimated investments, and for the airport in Vitória, with BRL1.08bn in investments. The concession auctions are scheduled to take place in the fourth quarter of next year.
The government auctioned four airport concessions in March this year. Germany’s Fraport won two contracts, bidding BRL1.51bn to operate the airport in Fortaleza for 30 years and BRL382m for the airport in Porto Alegre for 25 years. France’s Vinci took the 30-year contract for the airport in Salvador for BRL1.59bn, while Flughafen Zürich from Switzerland won the Florianópolis airport for BRL241m.