Consortium seeks to sell Jordan airport concession
AIRPORT INTERNATIONAL GROUP SEEKS ADVICE TO CASH IN ITS $ 850M INVESTMENT
An Abu Dhabi- led consortium investing $ 850 million ( Dh3.121 trillion) to expand Jordan’s main airport is looking to exit a 25- year concession to manage the facility, preferring to cash in the investment rather than stay involved for coming years.
Three banking sources told Reuters that the Airport International Group ( AIG), comprising French, Greek and Jordanian firms to expand the Queen Alia International Airport with an additional terminal, had approached banks to advise on a possible sale.
The consortium was awarded a 25- year build- operatetransfer ( BoT) concession by the Jordanian government in 2007.
The new terminal is expected to open next month, increasing capacity nearly three times to 9 million passengers a year.
Initial stages
“They [ the consortium members] have finished almost all the work and as financial investors, are looking to get out of the investment. The process is still at an initial stage and it will be a while before any deal is reached,” one of the sources said.
Yet the potential withdrawal of an Abu Dhabi- led consortium is likely to be a sensitive development given the UAE’s support for Jordan, which is grappling with dwindling foreign investment in its ailing economy amid the Arab Spring unrest.
Arab uprisings have hit Jordan’s domestic demand and foreign cash flows, including remittances from expatriates in the Gulf, but air passenger traffic in the country has increased amid unrest in Syria. Queen Alia airport, the main hub for Royal Jordanian Airlines, already has three terminals and more than 90 per cent of work expanding it is complete, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the matter is not public.
The AIG consortium is led by Abu Dhabi- owned Invest AD, which has a 38 per cent stake, and Kuwait’s Noor Financial Investment Co, with a 24 per cent ownership. Other partners include Jordan’s Edgo Group, Greek construction firm J. P. Avax, J& P Overseas Ltd and a unit of France’s Aeroports de Paris Group.
A spokeswoman for AIG declined comment. Invest AD, Noor Financial and Edgo Group were not available for comment. ADP, which has a 9.5 per cent stake in the venture, declined comment.