TAV Airports consortium to acquire Almaty Airport in Kazakhstan

A consortium of TAV Airports and VPE Capital has signed a share purchase agreement to purchase the shares of Almaty Airport and the related jet fuel and catering businesses for $415m.

Groupe ADP owns 46.12% of TAV Airports.

The share of TAV Airports in the consortium will be more than 75% and the transfer of the shares will happen after the closing.

The deal will finalise after the legal prerequisites and procedures are completed and is expected to close in the next few months.

The assets will be fully combined into the accounts of TAV Airports.

Almaty International Airport, built in 1935, is the biggest airport in Kazakhstan. The airport is located around 18km away from the country’s capital Almaty.

The airport is the biggest airport in Central Asia and served 6.4 million passengers last year, half of which were from international flights.

TAV Airports president and CEO Sani Şener said “We’re happy to add Almaty Airport, which is a main transit hub between Asia and Europe, to our portfolio.

“Almaty is strategically located on ‘the modern Silk Road’, established from China to Europe and Africa through air transport. Kazakhstan is the largest country in the region, both geographically and economically, and Almaty is the largest city in the country, controlling 20% of Kazakhstan’s GDP.

“We believe there’s a significant potential for growth in Almaty Airport, and drawing upon our extensive know-how, we’ll work towards realising this potential to the fullest.”

In February, Groupe ADP agreed to purchase a 49% stake in GMR Airports, a unit of India’s GMR Infrastructure (GIL), for Rs107.8bn (€1.36bn).

GIL will offer highly extended governance rights to Groupe ADP. The board members of the two companies will be equally weighted.