February 13 (SeeNews) - Serbia's government said it is inviting bids for awarding a 25-year concession on Belgrade Nikola Tesla international airport.
Eligible bidders must not hold more than 20% of the concessionaire of an airport which has served more than one million passengers at any point in time over a twelve-month period from January 1, 2016, and which is located within a 450 km radius from Belgrade, the government said in the public invitation published in the Official Gazette on Friday.
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Bidders should have been the operator of an international airport with traffic of over five million passengers annually for at least two years over the past ten years and shall have equity in excess of 500 million euro ($532.4 million).
The process of awarding the concession contract will be executed in two phases, with investors submitting non-binding bids in the first and binding proposals in the second. Interested investors will be able to apply for participation in the first phase within 15 days staring February 10.
According to Serbian media reports, Vinci Airports, Fraport, Bouygues, two unnamed firms from the United Arab Emirates and three companies from China are interested in the deal.
Belgrade airport, operated by Aerodrom Nikola Tesla [BEL:AERO] company, serviced record 4.92 million passengers in 2016, up 3% year-on-year.
In December, Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vucic said he was convinced that the government could strike a deal for a 25-year concession on Belgrade Nikola Tesla airport as a result of the good job done by flag carrier Air Serbia and the management of Nikola Tesla airport.
A concession would bring a one-off payment of up to 400 million euro plus an annual fee of 11 million euro to the state, Vucic pointed out.
The Serbian government owns 83.1% of Aerodrom Nikola Tesla [BEL:AERO], the operator of the airport, which booked a 22% year-on-year rise in net profit to 21.6 million euro in the first ten months of 2016.
($ = 0.9391 euro)