An evocative name for the new manager of Nice Airport: Azzurra, which was the name of the Italian boat that, for the first time in the history of Italian sailing, participated in the America’s Cup in 1983 and 1987 (representing the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and financed by the Aga Khan and Fiat’s chairman Gianni Agnelli).
By a twist of fate, it was in Nice, in 2009, during the first stage of the Vuitton Cup that Azzurra (racing under a new flag) achieved its last victory.
In the consortium that won this tender, it is the sub-holding Atlantia (active in infrastructures) of the Benetton family (who are the controlling shareholder with more than 30% of the shares) that takes the lion’s share.
Atlantia (with a turnover of 5 billion euros in 2015) is the majority shareholder of Autostrade, the company that holds the concession for the most important motorway network in Italy (Milan-Rome-Naples), and of ADR, which since 1974 has been managing the airports of the Italian capital, Leonardo da Vinci in Fiumicino and Giovan Battista Pastine, located in Ciampino.
With a traffic of 22 million passengers as of June 30, 2016, and more than 140 airlines to 160 airports accessible from Rome, ADR is the leading airport company in Italy.
ADR also holds shares in Aeroporti di Genova S.p.A (Genoa), Societร Aeroportuale Calabrese S.p.A. (Calabria) and Acsa (Airports Company South Africa) (South Africa).
After three months of procedure, the state has finally designated the future majority shareholder (60% of shares currently held by the state) of the airports of the Cรดte d’Azur (Nice, Mandelieu, Saint-Tropez-La Mole); they will be managed, until 2044, by Azzurra, a consortium comprising Atlantia (65%), an Italian investment fund in infrastructures, ADR (10%), and EDF Invest (25%), a subsidiary of the French electricity company.
The trio offered 1.222 billion euros, which is twenty-two times the operating result of the company. This offer surpasses that of its finalist competitor, Vinci Airport, which was associated with Prรฉdica and the Caisse des dรฉpรดts et consignations.
The amount offered for Nice Airport, the second largest French airport with its 12 million passengers transported each year, was relatively expected.
According to Bercy, the two consortia that won the bids had not only proposed the most significant financial offers but also the most interesting industrial offers.
The local municipalities of the PACA region have all supported this choice. The future manager agreed to the creation of a monitoring committee for commitments, involving all local public actors.
A shareholders’ agreement will associate them with major decisions concerning the company’s strategy and conditions for its development.
Not everything is over. Apart from possible appeals, it is the Competition Authority that now needs to verify whether these acquisitions do not jeopardize competition between airport platforms in France and must give the green light to put a final word on this deal which, in the end, has stirred quite a lot of ink for not much.
