Having acquired a 20% stake in Hanover Airport in 1998 and a further 10% in 2003, Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide (Fraport AG) has signed an agreement to sell its entire 30% stake in Flughafen Hannover-Langenhagen GmbH (FHLG) to iCON Flughafen GmbH (iCON) – part of the iCON Infrastructure Group – for €109.2 million.
The City of Hanover and the Hannoversche Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH – a wholly-owned company belonging to the State of Lower Saxony hold equal shares in the remaining 70% of FHLG. The closing of the transaction is dependent on the contractually agreed pre-emption rights held by the two co-shareholders, with the transaction expected to be concluded within the next two months.
According to Dr. Stefan Schulte, Fraport AG's executive board chairman: “For some time, we have received strong interest from the market for Fraport to sell its stake in Hanover Airport. This underscores Fraport's competence in increasing the value of our airport investments, wherever we operate around the world. We achieve this by enhancing operations, infrastructure, and the customer experience. At the same time, we are pursuing the goal to acquire majority stakes in airports or to hold a position of significant influence in these airport companies,” adding that: “Hanover Airport is a solid business with a bright future. It has developed into an important aviation gateway in northern Germany for both passenger and cargo traffic. We would like to thank the other FHLG shareholders and the Hanover region for the excellent cooperation, and we wish them continuing success.”
Based on current book values and current expectations – that both co-shareholders will not exercise their pre-emption rights – Fraport AG anticipates that the Hanover transaction will contribute approximately €85 million to the Group EBT, which will translate into approximately €25 million for the Group EBITDA and EBIT for the current 2018 business year. (€1.00 = US$1.17 at time of publication.)
