VINCI Airports acquires stake in Mexico’s Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte

With this stake in a company holding a concession that will mature in 25 years, VINCI Airports is moving into Mexico and will contribute to operating 13 airports in a country with high growth potential.

Monterrey international airport (the airport handles about half of OMA’s passenger traffic, and the city is Mexico’s industrial capital and second-largest metropolis), while OMA also operates airports at Chihuahua, Ciudad Juárez, Culiacán and Mazatlán, in addition to the airports at Acapulco, San Luis Potosí, Torreón, Zihuatanejo, Durango, Zacatecas, Tampico and Reynosa.

Passenger traffic at OMA airports has hovered above pre-health-crisis levels since last July. Overall, in the first 11 months of the year – during which the airports handled 21 million passengers and flights to and from 170 destinations –, traffic is at 99% of its 2019 level, VINCI Airports said.

“VINCI Airports will maintain this momentum to address growing demand for domestic travel in the Americas’ third most populated country and for international travel, especially to and from the United States, by starting up direct flights between Monterrey and Los Angeles, Houston, Detroit and Austin,” the company said.

“VINCI Airports will also roll out its environmental action plan aimed at net zero emissions throughout its network by 2050.

This transaction has cemented VINCI Airports’ position as the world’s leading private operator in its sector [2] and solidified its operation in the Americas, where it is already active in the United States, Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica,” the company added.

The transaction was valued at $578.7 million and that for Aerodrome for $240.8 million (excluding Aerodrome’s pre-existing debt), and which together hold 29.99% of OMA’s share capital.

Following integration of the airports in Cabo Verde, VINCI Airports will operate more than 70 airports worldwide.

VINCI Airports was advised on the deal in France by law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, with a team led by Vincent Daniel-Mayeur, Thomas Métayer and Claude Stansbury. Banco Credit Suisse México acted as financial advisor to VINCI Airports.

Banco Santander also acted as financial adviser in Mexico, and was advised by Galicia Abogados, with a team led by partners Humberto Pérez Rocha Ituarte and Arturo Perdomo Jiménez, with banking and finance practice associates María de los Ángeles Padilla Zubiría and Casilda Caso Olazabal.