Vinci buys Dominican airports

Vinci Airports has bought six of the nine airports in the Dominican Republic for an undisclosed amount from private equity firm Advent International.

The deal, which is set to close in the first quarter of 2016, will see Vinci Airports acquire Aeropuertos Dominicanos Siglo XXI (Aerodom), which includes the Dominican Republic’s second-largest airport by passenger traffic, Las Américas International Airport. Aerodom’s six airports served 4.3 million passengers last year – with Las Américas serving 3.3 million – representing 4.4 percent passenger growth on 2013. The airports are under concession to Vinci Airports until March 2030.

Advent originally bought Aerodom in 2008. Since then, the private equity firm has implemented a number of changes to the airports, including forming a new route development group to boost traffic and decreasing their energy consumption by 20 percent. It has also expanded the runway at Las Américas and built 17 new hangars across the airports.

“Together [with Aerodom management], we have improved operations and expanded both the commercial and aeronautical sides of the business, resulting in significant revenue and productivity growth. We believe Vinci Airports is the ideal partner for Aerodom as it enters the next stage of its development and wish the company continued success well into the future,” commented Advent managing director Luis Solórzano.

Vinci Airports has been on an airports buying spree of late, paying close to $17 billion last month as part of the consortium that won the contract to run the Kansai and Osaka international airports.