MAG to appeal dismissal of complaint against pick of Sofia Airport concessionaire

MAG's offered investments of 1.5 billion euro are 2.5 times higher than the offer picked by Bulgaria's transport ministry, the British airport group said in a statement, announcing its intention to challenge the decision before Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court.

"At the moment we are fully focused on the appeal process, as we believe that there are serious gaps in the procedure, and we expect to present the case to the competent authorities," Andrew Harrison, CEO of MAG's airport services division, said.

In July, Bulgaria's transport ministry ranked first the offer of a consortium led by French investment firm Meridiam Eastern Europe Investments. The consortium proposed to pay a concession fee of 24.5 million euro per year for the duration of the contract and invest 608 million euro in Sofia Airport.

The decision was appealed by all other participants in the tender but the Commission for Protection of Competition dismissed their complaints earlier this month.

The other offers came from Fraport Bulgaria; a consortium led by Swiss-based SSB Sauerwein & Schaefer Bau; and a consortium comprising France's Aeroports de Paris (ADP) and its unit TAV Havalimanlari Holding.

The Sofia Airport operator's net profit rose to 14 million levs ($7.9 million/7.2 million euro) in January-September, from 11.1 million levs in the same period of last year, as its revenue grew to 134.8 million levs from 124.2 million levs.

($ = 0.9039 euro)