SOFIA, April 11 (Reuters) – Airport operators from Britain, Germany, France and Denmark filed bids to run and operate Sofia Airport, Bulgaria’s main air hub, in a tender for a 35-year concession, the transport ministry said on Thursday.
The Balkan country is looking to raise 550 million euros ($619 million) from the concession, 280 million of which should come in an upfront payment. The transport ministry will open the bids on May 9 and is expected to pick a winner shortly after.
Britain’s largest airport operator, Manchester Airports Group, in a tie-up with China’s construction firm BCEG placed a bid. Germany’s Fraport, the operator of Frankfurt airport, as well as a consortium between asset manager Meridiam and the operator of Munich Airport, Flughafen Muenchen, also filed offers, the ministry said.
The other two contenders include a consortium led by France’s Aeroports de Paris and a tie-up between Copenhagen Airports and SSB Sauernwein & Schaefer.
The successful candidate would have to invest about 600 million euros and build a new passenger terminal at the airport that transported over 7 million people and handled over 22,000 tonnes of cargo last year. ($1 = 0.8882 euros) (Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova. Editing by Jane Merriman)