Fraport CEO Confirms Joint Bid With RREEF For Hochtief Airports
August 18 2011 - 7:00AM
Dow Jones News
Fraport AG (FRA.XE) Chief Executive Stefan Schulte Thursday
confirmed that the German airport operator has submitted a joint
bid with Deutsche Bank AG's (DB) infrastructure investment unit
RREEF for a portfolio of airports put up for sale by construction
company Hochtief AG (HOT.XE).
"We have submitted a joint bid with RREEF," Schulte told
reporters on the sidelines of a logistics and mobility industry
conference in Frankfurt.
His comments come after Hochtief Chief Executive Frank Stieler
Wednesday said the company had received several offers for its
airport portfolio, but didn't mention how many bidders are in the
process. The deal is expected to close this year, according to
Stieler.
The assets include minority stakes in airports in Athens,
Budapest, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Sydney and Tirana, Albania.
People familiar with the bidding process have said four suitors
are still in the running, having placed bids of up to EUR1.3
billion.
Apart from Fraport and RREEF, the bidders include French
construction company Vinci SA (DG.FR) and the parent of Hainan
Airlines Co. (600221.SH), China's No. 4 airline by revenue. A
fourth bidder is a consortium comprising Allianz SE's (ALV.XE)
investment arm Allianz Capital Partners and infrastructure fund
Global Infrastructure Partners.
Fraport's Schulte said Thursday that his company is solely
interested in the international airport assets held by Hochtief's
Concessions, adding that its partner RREEF has its eyes on the
German assets.
Schulte declined to elaborate further on the matter, saying only
that the two joint bidders would work out how to split up the
international and German assets owned by Hochtief Concessions after
a successful bid.
-By Jan Hromadko, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29 725 503;
jan.hromadko@dowjones.com