Serbia has selected French investment bank Lazard Freres as advisor in the privatisation of the Nikola Tesla airport in Belgrade, the country’s transport and infrastructure ministry said on Tuesday.
Lazard has asked 1.27 million euro ($1.42 million) for its advisory services and a further 3.22 million euro if the privatisation deal is completed successfully, the ministry said in an emailed statement to SeeNews.
Mott MacDonald, Oric, CMS and KPMG will act as subcontractors for Lazard, the ministry added.
Six bidders had submitted bids for the advisory contract, it also said.
The contract with Lazard Freres is due to be signed early next week.
The state has a stake of 83.1% in the Airport Nikola Tesla.
The airport’s current market value is some 30.9 billion dinars ($279 million/251 million euro), according to the ministry.
Earlier this year, Serbia’s prime minister Aleksandar Vucic said that the country will opt for the airport’s sale and estimated that its privatisation will fetch 500 million euro ($564.3 million). The price is several times higher than the initially expected 100 million euro thanks to the good management of flag carrier Air Serbia, the airport’s main client, Vucic said at the time.
In 2015 passenger traffic at Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla rose 3% to a record-high 4.8 million, whereas cargo traffic added 25%, company data indicated.
The state-controlled airport operator is implementing a 20 million euro upgrade project financed with own funds. In April 2015, the company said that the project should be completed by the end of 2016.S
In 2015 Serbia hired Lazard as advisor on the privatisation of Telekom Serbia. This privatisation was unsuccessful because the Serbian government was not satisfied with the bids submitted by candidate buyers.
Source; See News
