AENA fixed at 58 euros per share the price of its privatization

USPA NEWS - The public company AENA, that Spanish airports owns, put a price of 58 euros per share in its partial privatization, by which hopes to 4,200 million euros, said Tuesday the company. The Spanish Government has everything ready for the privatization of 49% -the highest legal capital- of AENA.

The sale of this block of shares -this Wednesday at noon in Spain- will enable the State to enter 4,200 million euros ($ 4,750 million) for an operation that involves the further privatization of public assets undertaken in the last 15 years and is performed on the maximum valuation which has plumbed to markets. If a retail price is EUR 6.225 million ($ 7,041 million) was proposed throughout the company in October last year, three months after the value exceed 8,700 million euros ($ 9,840 million). The reasons for this increase are the improvement of company performance, expectations of a very busy year for airlines by falling oil prices and, from a financial point of view, the appeal of dividend that provides.

The Minister of Development, Ana Pastor, said on Tuesday that AENA will remain a public company and stressed that the model will remain in network. In an informative breakfast in Madrid, Pastor said the new model chosen for the entry of private capital in AENA it best serves the public interest. "The opening of capital AENA strengthen the management of the company and ensuring the future sustainability of the Spanish airport system network," said the minister, adding that the process will further strengthen leadership as the first airport operator AENA the world in number of passengers.

The network of AENA, Pastor recalled, completed a fantastic 2014 with 195.9 million passengers, 1.8 million aircraft operations (2.3% more than in 2013) and 685,000 tons of goods (7.2 % more). Air traffic is growing in Spain in a higher proportion than are registering the main competitors of AENA, an increase in passenger numbers in 2014 of 4.5%, well above the 2.6% of ADP and Fraport and 1.4% of Heathrow. In January, the trend continues, with 11.6 million passengers (up 5.3%) and 120,307 transactions (up 3.3%). Also notable increase by 7% of international passengers (7.6 million) and 2.5% for national (3.8 million).