Inframérica returns concession, but eyes upcoming airport auctions

Although Argentina-based group Inframérica wants to return its concession for São Gonçalo do Amarante airport in Brazil, it retains high interest in the sector.

Inframérica will take advantage of a presidential decree authorizing the return and re-offer of concessions for assets that underperformed.

It assumed the concession for the airport in Rio Grande do Norte in 2011.

“Certain concessions granted by past governments had problems with economic projections, developed before the auctions, including the projections of passengers, which failed to materialize, especially due to the economic recession in 2015 and 2016. The return of concessions now is due to those past problems and not linked with future projections,” Allemander Pereira Filho, director of aviation consultancy Aircon and former director of civil aviation authority Anac, told BNamericas.

Inframérica also holds the concession of Brasília airport, one of country’s busiest.

The company remains interested in bidding in upcoming auctions.

"We reiterate our commitment to the development of infrastructure in Brazil, and we remain attentive to new investment opportunities in the country,” CEO Jorge Arruda said. 

AUCTIONS

The Bolsonaro administration is planning to hold several airport auctions as part of its plan to attract more private sector investors to the infrastructure segment.

Future auctions are expected to attract a growing number of players, mainly international companies. These players are not concerned over the return of past concessions.

“[In 2019] we saw the arrival of a new and important player in the airport sector, which is AENA, and in the next airport auctions we can still see new entrants in the segment,” Edson Ogawa, head of project finance at Banco Santander Brasil, told BNamericas in a recent interview, adding the bank was working on the financing structure for international players interested in the auctions.

PAST CONCESSIONS ISSUES

The problems Inframérica encountered are not uncommon.

Brazilian infrastructure company Invepar formalized recently its request to return the BR-040 highway concession, also taking advantage of a federal decree.

Holders of concessions for highways BR-101, BR-163 in Mato Grosso state, BR-163 in Mato Grosso do Sul, and of BR-060, BR-153 and BR-262 face similar problems and will follow Invepar’s move. MSVIA, the subsidiary of infrastructure company CCR, which administers the BR-163 highway, is already studying how best to return the concession.