Antitrust Office may reject takeover of Bratislava Airport by Vienna

The Slovak Transport Ministry confirmed on Monday the existence of a letter sent by the Antitrust Office in April 2005 regarding airport privatization. In this letter, the Antitrust Office expresses its objections towards a possible takeover of Bratislava Airport by Vienna Airport due to their geographic proximity. The Antitrust Office warns that it would be problematic to pick a strategic partner for Bratislava airport, who is directly or indirectly, by capital or personally, interconnected with a business entity controlling Vienna Airport, since this would mean a connection of two very close airports, reads the letter.

Apart from the TwoOne consortium, whose member is also Vienna airport, there are four other bidders interested in acquiring a 66 percent stake in Bratislava and Kosice airports. According to information, which appeared in the media, some of them do not rule out the possibility of filing a complaint with the Antitrust office pointing out the geographic proximity, if the consortium with Vienna airport would win the tender. All members of the TwoOne consortium agree that it would not be appropriate to suppress development of Slovak airports.

The official list of shortlisted bidders contains a consortium formed by Spanish company Abertis, British TBI airport operator and the Slovak financial group J&T. Also, the TwoOne consortium was shortlisted. It consists of Flughafen Wien airport operator, the private equity group Penta and the Austrian bank Raiffeisen Zentralbank. Next in line is a consortium Independent Slovak Airport Partners uniting German airport company Koeln-Bonn Airport, Canadian engineering firm SNC-Lavalin International, Austrian advisory firm Airport Consulting Vienna and GalaxyS infrastructure fund. Turkish construction and airport operator firm Tepe Akfen Ventures is also on the shortlist. The list also contains French group Vinci that teamed up with Austrian firm Away. Bidders can submit their bids by November 21 this year. The winner of the international tender should be known by the end of the year.