ATHENS: The Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) last night accepted a rapidly improved €600m ($674m) offer from Athens International Airport SA (AIA) for a 20-year extension to its airport concession operating contract.
The Athens International Airport already held the contract concession until 2026, but subject to approvals by the European Commission and the Greek Parliament, this new extension will now extend AIA’s tenure and its management of all the airport’s aeronautical and commercial businesses to 2046.
HRADF says that the formal initiation of the 20-year extension process to operate the airport was the result of AIA’s fast response to HRADF’s insistence that it improve its earlier offer, which was originally submitted on the evening on May 30. As such, the endorsement of the revised offer followed after HRADF was satisfied with the scrutiny contained in two independent evaluations and ‘the positive opinion of the Board of Experts’.
Commenting on the new agreement, HRADF said: “The total benefit to the State from the extension of the existing Concession Agreement is a multiple of the aforementioned price.
“In particular, it is estimated that the additional expected revenues from the payment of the annual remuneration, already provided for in the Concession Agreement, will amount to approximately €894m ($1bn) for the total 20-year extension, whereas the estimated revenue from AIA’s income tax is estimated to reach €1.47bn ($1.65bn).
“Finally it must be noted that approximately €835m ($937m) is expected by the government, due to the expansion and the future payment of additional dividends.”
