Portugal begins sale of airport authority

Portugal on Thursday launched the privatisation of the national ANA airport authority, in accordance with the country’s 2011 EU-IMF bailout agreement.

The cabinet “approved the law privatising ANA” which will lead to a complete divestment of the airport operator, government spokesman Luis Marques Guedes said at a news conference.

Guedes said bidders for ANA — which operates the airports in Lisbon, Porto, Faro and the Azores archipelago — have until the end of September to make offers in a sale that should be completed by the end of the year.

The privatisation “will be done through a direct sale to one or several national or foreign investors” as well as through a public offering of five percent of the capital “exclusively reserved to company employees,” he said.

According to Portuguese press reports, a consortium uniting motorway operators Brias and Brazil’s CCR has expressed interest along with Spanish construction giant Ferrovial and Portuguese builder Teixara Duarte.

In May 2011, Portugal agreed to carry out a 5.5 billion euro ($6.7 billion) privatisation programme in exchange for 78 billion euros in rescue loans from the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.