Higher interest rates, inflation and pandemic aftermath have impact, but group maintains interest in Brazil

07/08/2022

---

Maurici Lucena — Foto: Ana Paula Paiva/Valor

Aena, the Spanish airport operator, is still interested in investing in Brazil and is studying to compete in the seventh round of concessions, scheduled for August, said the group’s CEO, Maurici Lucena.

Despite confidence in the country’s growth, market conditions today are more difficult than in 2019, when the company made its first move in Brazil by winning a block of six airports in the Northeast region.

Besides the pandemic aftermath, the scenario of higher interest rates and inflation will impact the pricing of assets, said the executive, in conversation with Valor.

“We are looking with great interest at the seventh round. There are attractive assets. Today we live in a more complex moment than in the past. Monetary and financial conditions have hardened and will harden even more. This evidently affects the valuation of assets and the financing capacity of airport managers. But it is a cyclical aspect, within a 30-year contract,” he said.

Mr. Lucena is on his first visit to the country since Aena took over the six airports in the Northeast, won at an auction in 2019. The operation of the Recife airport, the main one in the block, officially began in March 2020 – exactly the month in which the pandemic arrived most intensely in Brazil.

“We had bad luck at this beginning, which was absolutely unpredictable. The reasonable thing is that this effect will be diluted throughout the 30 years of the concession,” the executive says. Despite still suffering from the impacts of the pandemic, the assets operated by the company in Brazil had a recovery in 2021 above the national average and above the recovery seen in European countries.

By October 2023, Aena’s prospect is to conclude investments of R$1.4 billion in the six airports in the Northeast region. By 2027, this figure is expected to reach R$2.2 billion – without considering maintenance expenses.

Mr. Lucena points out that the investment in Brazil is the first international move the Spanish group executed alone. “In other cases, in the UK, in Colombia, in Mexico, we always went with other partners. Here we entered alone. This shows how much we like Brazil. And we did it [the entry into the country in 2019] with the idea of being just the first step in Brazil. It’s not a sure thing that we will get new assets. Everything will depend on the conditions, but that was our idea,” he said.

Aena is controlled by the Spanish government, which owns 51% of the company’s shares. The remaining 49% are traded on the stock exchange. Altogether, the group operates 46 airports in Spain, including Madrid and Barcelona, and has a stake in 23 international airports (including the six in Brazil).

In the first quarter of this year, the group as a whole carried 43.4 million passengers, a 281.6% advance over 2021 and a 71.9% recovery from the pre-pandemic, 2019 level. For the quarter, Aena reported an Ebitda of €72.6 million, compared to a negative Ebitda of €121.5 million in the same period in 2021. However, the group still posted a net loss of €96.4 million in the quarter.

Mr. Lucena avoids giving details about the group’s plans for the upcoming auctions. Regarding the seventh round, for example, he prefers not to inform which of the three blocks offered is on the radar. In the market, the perception is that Aena has a strong interest in the lot that includes Congonhas (São Paulo), considered the star of the competition and that it may also bid for a block of two airports in the North of the country, where there could be synergies with the current portfolio.

Besides the seventh round of auctions, Mr. Lucena signals that the group will study all the next opportunities that are coming up: the new auction of Viracopos, in Campinas (São Paulo state), of São Gonçalo do Amarante, in Natal (Rio Grande do Norte), and the last round of concessions (which will include Santos Dumont and Galeão, in Rio de Janeiro). “All of them are interesting. When the time is right, after the seventh round, we will look at them case by case,” he says.

*By Taís Hirata — São Paulo

Source: Valor International

https://valorinternational.globo.com/