The Minister of Infrastructure, Marcelo Sampaio, considered positive the result of the auction of the seventh round of the airport concessions program, which took place this Thursday afternoon (18) at B3, the São Paulo stock exchange.
“We are very satisfied with today’s result,” said the minister, in an interview shortly after the auction. “It’s a day of celebration for us. Today we reached the mark of 100 auctions transferred in the last three years and eight months. In aviation alone, we currently have 59 airports in Brazil managed by the private sector,” said Sampaio.
Today’s auction awarded 15 airports, divided into three blocks, to the private sector and generated R$ 2.716 billion for the government. Aena, a Spanish company that already owns six airports in the Northeast Region, was the winner of the most anticipated block in the auction, which included Congonhas Airport, in São Paulo, the second busiest in the country.
With no competition, Aena acquired the entire SP-MS-PA-MG block, which, in addition to Congonhas, included the airports of Campo Grande, Corumbá and Ponta Porã, in Mato Grosso do Sul; Santarém, Marabá, Parauapebas and Altamira, in Pará; and Uberlândia, Uberaba and Montes Claros, in Minas Gerais. The value offered by Aena was R$ 2.45 billion, which meant a premium of 231.02% over the reference value established in the public notice.
The General Aviation block, formed by the airports of Campo de Marte, in São Paulo, and Jacarepaguá, in Rio de Janeiro, was acquired by XP Infra IV Fip in Infrastructure, which offered R$ 141.4 million, with a premium of 0. 01%. There was also no competition in this block.
The North Block II, made up of the airports in the capitals of Pará, Belém, and Amapá, Macapá, was the only one that had competition, being disputed by the Novo Norte Aeroportos Consortium and by Vinci Airports. After a live dispute, the block was acquired by the Novo Norte Consortium for R$ 125 million, which represented a premium of 119.78%.
For the minister, the lack of competition in the auction of the second busiest airport in the country was not due to the government’s rush to hold the auction, but to a “challenging scenario”.
“In recent days we have heard the concern about the low number of bidders in today’s auction, and it is worth noting that we are in a very challenging macroeconomic scenario in the world. Today in Europe we have an armed conflict in Ukraine, we have emerged from a pandemic and we have a scenario of high interest rates in the world as a whole. It’s a very challenging world stage. But we are following our plan,” said Sampaio.
Regarding the planning, the minister added that the government intends to carry out the auction of the Galeão and Santos Dumont airports, in Rio de Janeiro, only at the end of next year. Sampaio highlighted, however, that by the end of this year, other assets will be granted by the government: “By the end of this year, we will have the re-bidding of São Gonçalo do Amarante Airport, the airport in Natal. This is the first asset coming up for rebidding, and this is the opportunity we have to revisit the contracts, which will be modernized.”
“In addition to the aviation sector, we will have three more highway concessions by the end of the year: lots 1 and 2 of the Paraná highways. And the auction of BR-381, in Minas Gerais. In the port sector, we have 13 port leases, including important and strategic areas such as STS 53, which is a fertilizer area in the Port of Santos, in São Paulo”, informed the minister. He announced three more privatizations in the port sector: the Port of São Sebastião, in São Paulo, the Port of Itajaí, in Santa Catarina, and the Port of Santos, which is our largest logistics hub in the country”.
In a note, Aena informed that the signing of the concession contract is scheduled for February next year and that this was the “largest international operation” carried out by the company to date”.
With today’s concessions, the Spanish company will operate a network of 17 airports in Brazil.
