AA2000 partnership clinches Carrasco contract

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Cerealsur, a consortium headed by Argentinian airport authority Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 (AA2000), is to be the new operator at Montevideo's Carrasco International airport.

Cerealsur, a consortium headed by Argentinian airport authority Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 (AA2000), is to be the new operator at Montevideo's Carrasco International airport. As revealed by DFNI E-MAIL (August 27), the winning consortium bid $34m for the concession at an auction last week, more than double the $15m minimum established by the Uruguayan government. The contract is for 20 years with an option for a further ten-year extension.

Cerealsur was joined in the bidding by a group led by Mexico's Advent International, which bid $33m; a joint bid of $23.3m from Uruguayan companies Candysur, an airport services concessionaire, and Neutral, incumbent duty-free operator at Carrasco; and Uruguayan construction group Ramón C Alvárez, which bid $18.5m.

AA2000 and consortium partners Milan based SEA and American International Airport committed to investing about $80m to upgrade facilities at Uruguay's principal airport. The group will pay an annual fee of $2.5m to the state, and will take possession of the airport in November.

AA2000's principal shareholder Eduardo Eurnekian said the consortium would announce its plans for the location within 15 days. He said: ?The objective is to make the airport one of the most modern in the world,? with a concept in airport design that would rival modern international airports such as Frankfurt.

The future for Neutral is unclear, with AA2000 braced to appoint a third party concessionaire to operate duty-free. Neutral has been working without a contract and may be forced to give way to another regional operator.