Sale of French stake in Nice and Lyon airports attracts worldwide interest

A frenzy of interest has been created since the French government announced the country’s intention to relinquish its 60% stake in Nice Côte d’Azur and Lyon-Saint-Exupery airports. Interest is particularly keen owing to a continued increase in traffic and stakes in two of the country’s busiest airports will present investors with relatively stable assets in a sector where passenger numbers increased by more than 5% last year to 3.21 billion, based on data from the World Bank.
There is an element of competition between the two rival hubs, plus the airlines which they serve. The value of Nice and Lyon airports is estimated at €1.5bn and €900m respectively. These figures are calculated based on the sale last year of Toulouse Blagnac airport which sold for 18 times its EBITDA for a minority stake. With core earnings of €100m and €66m, one would expect offers for the two airports certainly to reach the €900m and €600m mark at a multiplier between 15 and 20. The end of year sale of London City airport by GIP is seeing an EBITDA of 28 and a deal of £2.00bn on the cards, a sum which will greatly influence offers on the French duo.
So far interest has been confirmed from Australian investment group Macquarie, London City Airport backer Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and Industry Funds Management, which has minority stakes in Vienna and Manchester airport. Sources have indicated that Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial and airport operator AENA, as well as Singapore Airport and Malaysia Airport are also in the running, while Rome airport operator Atlantia has also expressed an interest. Canadian pension funds Ontario Teachers and Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) have been mentioned, along with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Singapore’s GIC and Kuwaiti pension fund Wren House. Apparently French infrastructure builder Vinci, is planning a joint bid in conjunction with state holding company Caisse des Depots et Consignations and insurer Predica for both airports, while Aeroports de Paris, who along with Caissde and Predica lost out at Toulouse, has also said it could now be interested in Nice.
The remaining 40% stake in the two airports will be retained by the respective local chambers of commerce (25%) and local government authorities (15%).
At time of publication £1.00 = €1.37 and US$1.51 while €1.00 = €1.12