Abu Dhabi divests Jordan airport shares

23 April 2018
Two other members divest stakes from the consortium that developed and operated Queen Alia International since 2007

Abu Dhabi Investment Company (Invest AD) has divested its 38 per cent stake, equivalent to AED843m ($230m), in Airport International Group (AIG), the special purpose vehicle that has developed and operated Jordan’s Queen Alia International airport since 2007.

Other members of the AIG consortium, which won the 25-year build, operate, transfer (BOT) concession for the airport in 2007, include Paris-based Groupe ADP, UAE-based Noor Financial Investment Company, UK-based Edgo, and Cyprus-based construction firms Joannou & Paraskevaides (Overseas) and J&P – Avax.

MEED understands that both Noor and J&P have also fully divested their stakes in AIG, while Edgo partially divested its shares.

This leaves Groupe ADP with a majority shareholding of 51 per cent, with Edgo, along with two new shareholders – Bahrain-based IDB Infrastructure Fund II and Paris-based Meridiam – owning the remaining shares.

Queen Alia International airport opened in 1983 with the capacity to handle up to 3.5 million passengers a year. In 2007, it became the Mena region’s first airport public-private partnership (PPP) with the award of a 25-year BOT concession to Invest AD-led AIG.

AIG invested $850m in a new passenger terminal that can handle up to 7 million passengers a year in the first phase and 12 million in the second phase.  The first phase of the airport development was completed in 2013 and the second phase three years later.

According to Invest AD, annual passenger numbers at the airport increased from 3.8 million in 2007 to 7.9 million in 2017.  The airport has 25 gates and can accommodate Airbus’ A380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft.

Jordan’s tourism sector is expected to remain in recovery mode this year. The country has suffered a major decline in tourist numbers, starting in 2011, as a result of the Arab Spring protests.

Jordan’s economy has also been buckling under the heavy pressure of providing for the estimated 1.3 million Syrians that have fled to the country since the Syrian civil war began in 2011. The annual burden of hosting the Syrian refugees is estimated at $2bn, and contributed to the 25 per cent increase in Jordan’s national debt between 2011 and 2015.

 

 

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