USD50 billion waiting to invest in airports

Press Release
PR108

The looming competitive battle for airport stakes and opportunities in emerging markets are key themes of the Centre's "blockbuster" Airport Development 2006 conference, to be held at the prestigious Raffles City Convention Centre in Singapore, from 29 August to 2 September 2006.

"The European market is running hot after the successful float of Aeroports de Paris and this week's approval by the Dutch Government for an IPO of Amsterdam Schiphol. But many of the investors, including some new names, are circling emerging markets for opportunities, particularly in Asia and the Middle East. The pipeline grows every day", he says.

"We estimate the 60 leading (active and potential) global airport investors have a combined pool of approximately USD50 billion ready and waiting to invest. We estimate the global airport privatisation pipeline is valued at up to USD40 billion - so competition will intensify in the sector and new entrants may have to pay price premiums to secure seed assets for their airport/infrastructure funds. This is not such good news for the established players".

Among the active and potential airport investors tracked by the Centre are Abertis, Aecon Group, Aeroporti di Roma, Aeroports de Paris, AIG, Airports Company South Africa, Amlak Finance, Australian Infrastructure Fund, BAA plc, Babcock & Brown Ltd, Bidvest Group Ltd, Blackstone, Borealis, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Chrysalis Capital, CITIC Allco Investments Ltd (Allco Finance Group Ltd, ABN AMRO, CITIC Capital and the Australian Superannuation Fund), Citigroup Inc, Colonial First State Global Asset Management, Copenhagen Airports A/S, Credit Suisse, DNATA, DS Construction, Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, Emaar, Emirates National Oil Co, Essel Group, Flughafen Wien AG, Fraport, GE Infrastructure (including GECAS), GIC Special Investments, GMR Infrastructure Ltd, Goldman Sachs International, GVK Industries Ltd, Hastings Funds Management, Hochtief Airport GmbH, HSBC, ICICI Venture, IDF, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd, Infratil, Invesco Asset Management, Macquarie Airports, Macquarie Bank, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, Mubadala (Abu Dhabi Government), Old Mutual Asset Managers, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Orix Corp, Penta Equity Group, Raiffeisen Zentralbank, Reliance, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Santander, Schroder Investment Management, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, Schiphol Group, Siemens, Singapore Changi Airpiort, Standard Chartered, Star Capital Partners, Sterlite Group, TAV, Temasek (Singapore Government), Unique Zurich and YVRAS.

"The Centre's forthcoming Airport Development 2006 event aims to bring together global aviation investors and strategic interests in airport and ANS development. The event will focus on issues confronting the emerging markets in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Eastern European regions. Growing interest in airports as an investment opportunity highlights the need to share experiences in state of the art finance/investments, regulations & policies, privatisation, retail strategies, latest infrastructure, strategic and new technology requirements for airports in these rapidly emerging markets", said Mr Harbison.

Airport Development 2006 is organised by the Centre with key partners, including Airports Council International (ACI) and IJK and Associates, supported by Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).

The confirmed speaker list already includes many of the leading participants in the global airport sector, including:

• Raymond Lim, Minister for Transport, Ministry of Transport, Singapore;
• Robert J Aaronson, Director General, Airports Council International (ACI);
• Alexander ter Kuille, Secretary General, CANSO;
• Peter Harbison, Executive Chairman- Centre For Asia Pacific Aviation;
• Kerrie Mather, CEO, Macquarie Airports;
• Charles E Schlumberger, Principal Air Transport Specialist, World Bank;
• Melanie Gee, Joint Global Head of Transport, UBS Financial Services;
• Dimitrios Gastonis, Director Aviation, Hochtief Airport;
• Waleed Youssef, Airport Development Manager & Transition Team Leader, Abu Dhabi Airports Company;
• Colin Campbell, Director, Global Transportation and Infrastructure Investment Banking, Citigroup;
• Andrew Miller, CEO, Centre For Asia Pacific Aviation;
• Ashley Smout, Chairman, CANSO & CEO, Airways New Zealand;
• Robert J Althuis, Managing Director, GE Commercial Finance Aviation Services;
• Eric Wijs, Director, Lazard;
• Jacques Follain, Managing Director, Aeroports de Paris Management;
• Jiri Pos, Director for Marketing, Commerce and Airport Operations, Prague Airport;
• James Cherry, President & CEO, Aéroport de Montréal;
• Roman Himmler, Manager Group Shareholdings, Vienna International Airport Group;
• Herbert Meier, ex-Vice President, Zurich Airport;
• Tim Chapman, Business Stream Leader - Aviation, GHD;
• David Diaz Almazan, Director Acquisitions, Abertis;
• Stephen Vineburg, Head of Infrastructure Investment, Colonial First State;
• Mary Clare Mervenne, Senior Investment Officer, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC);
• Rafael Echevarne, Director Marketing & Business Development, CR Aeropuerto SL, Spain;
• Isabelle Kayaloff, Managing Director, IJK & Associates.

Key details about Airport Development 2006:

• Date: 29 August - 2 September 2006
• Venue: Raffles City Convention Centre
• Attendance:
  • 350+ Delegates
  • 60+ High-level Speakers
  • 50+ Global Media Representatives
• Media Exposure: Global newswire press coverage
• Broadsheet newspaper coverage on three continents
• Global television coverage: Over 50 website listings and advertising
• Live web streaming of interviews to over 500,000 people

The event will also feature an extensive supplier exhibition and enhanced sponsor offering, with over 20+ hours of networking time.

For more information, please visit: https://centreforaviation.com