HOCHTIEF AirPort Consortium acquires Budapest Airport from BAA
Budapest, 07 June, 2007. - BAA and a consortium led by
HOCHTIEF AirPort (HTA) yesterday formally closed and completed the transaction
of the sale of BAA's shares in Budapest Airport to the HOCHTIEF AirPort
Consortium. With this move, the consortium acquires all the shares previously
held by BAA and takes over majority control of and operational responsibility
for Budapest Airport.
The HOCHTIEF AirPort Consortium appointed Dr. Reinhard Kalenda, CEO of HOCHTIEF AirPort, as CEO of Budapest Airport and Dimitrios Gatsonis, Director Aviation at HTA, as Deputy CEO of Budapest Airport.
"We are very proud", Dr. Reinhard Kalenda said, "of acquiring Hungary's unique national asset. We have long sought to acquire a stake in this airport because there is great potential and the airport perfectly fits into our airport portfolio. The HTA consortium has long-term commitment to develop Budapest Airport. By bringing in our know-how and the HTA network of airports, we will turn vision into value and realise Budapest Airport's potential."
The new management will now focus on the further development, expansion and modernisation of the airport. It will invest extensively into the airport, spending a total amount of EUR 261 million in the next five years alone.
Budapest Airport will strengthen its leading position in Central and Eastern Europe and, within ten years, become one of the most successful airports in Europe in terms of passenger growth, service quality and efficiency. The aviation hub will be a key driver of economic growth both for Budapest and for Hungary as a whole.
HTA is a subsidiary of international construction services group HOCHTIEF. The company has stakes in five airports: Athens, Budapest, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Sydney and Tirana. In 2006, a total of about 83 million passengers used these airports.
In addition to HOCHTIEF AirPort (49.6%), the HTA consortium comprises the financial investors Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Montreal (23.2%), GIC Special Investments, Singapore (23.2%) and KfW IPEX-Bank, Frankfurt (4.0%).