April 12 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's transport ministry said that its tender for awarding a 35-year concession contract to run Sofia International Airport, worth an estimated 3.5 billion euro ($4.4 billion) VAT excluded, has attracted five offers.
The candidates to operate Bulgaria's largest airport are four consortia led by foreign companies, and the local unit of German airport operator Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide, the ministry said in a statement late on Thursday.
The tender required the participants to state which company would act as operator of the airport.
Fraport Bulgaria is offering Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide to run Sofia Airport.
Two of the consortia are led by French companies. One of them is led by Meridiam Eastern Europe Investments, with Flughafen Munchen to act as airport operator, while the other is led by Aeroports de Paris, which will also act as airport operator, and includes Aeroports de Paris' Turkey-headquartered unit TAV Havalimanlari Holding.
The other bids came from a consortium led by Swiss-based SSB Sauerwein & Schaefer Bau with Copenhagen Airports A/S as airport operator, and a consortium comprising Britain's Manchester Airport Group Overseas Investments Limited and British-registered BCEGI Construction, a wholly-owned unit of China's Beijing Construction Engineering Group.
The transport ministry did not say which company will act as airport operator under the offer submitted by the consortium formed by Manchester Airport Group Overseas Investments Limited and BCEGI Construction.
The tender commission will now assess whether the bids meet the tender requirements and the eligible offers will be opened on May 9.
($ = 0.8859 euro)