December 17 (SeeNews) - The Bosnian units of Italian lenders Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit have won a tender for providing a 16.6 million marka ($10.4 million/8.5 million euro) loan to Sarajevo International Airport, local media reported.
The two banks offered the lowest price of 1.986 million marka for extending the loan, which is considerably below the cost of 3.102 million marka expected by the borrower, news provider Indikator.ba reported on Wednesday.
Two other bidders - a consortium of ASA Banka and Union Banka, and a tie-up of the Bosnian units of Sparkasse and Raiffeisen, offered a price of 1.989 million marka and 2.194 million marka, respectively.
If no appeal is launched against the decision, Sarajevo International Airport is expected to sign a credit agreement with Intesa Sanpaolo Banka d.d. and UniCredit Bank d.d. in the coming 10 days.
The airport operator has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, projecting a loss of 13.3 million euro this year. It expects that its recovery to the level of last year's business results will take two to three years, Indikator.ba noted.
(1 euro = 1.95583 marka)