Dearth of opportunities stirs investor interest in Sicilian and Copenhagen airport privatisations

With little traction in new airport privatisations, the revelation of two potential deals in Europe has stirred interest in a somnambulating investment sector that has survived for too long on the pickings of secondary sales; some of the deals that were on the verge of completion immediately before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic six years ago still not having reached fruition.

The first is in Italy, specifically Sicily (which is no stranger to airport privatisation: the first deals having taken place early in the 1990s and many of the main airports today at least partly privatised). But even so, the Italian interpretation of 'public-private partnership' is different, and governments can - and do - remain very much in charge.

So how the privatisation of Catania's airport develops will attract attention. The main driver for it seems to be its future potential as a logistics hub more than passenger traffic development, and that will require investment.

The second is Copenhagen Airports A/s, one of the first airport groups to be privatised, initially by IPO and then attracting institutional investors, but which was (to all intents and purposes) renationalised after disdain set in within the government about the aims and intentions of some of the private investors - even though there were tangible benefits evident from the privatisation.

Now it appears that the Danish state is ready to attract the private sector back again, albeit in a reduced role, not dissimilar to the events in Hungary a couple of years ago. It seems to have recognised that the private sector can bring distinct benefits, and that it will be needed if the major airport is to retain and enhance its role as the premier gateway to the Scandinavian region.

Whatever the outcome of both of these potential transactions, and in Copenhagen's case the history, some light is shed on the perennial debate about the real value of privatisation in the airport sector.