InterBaires and AA2000 locked in dispute

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Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 (AA2000) and InterBaires, airport operator and duty-free concessionaire in the principal airports in Argentina are locked in a legal dispute over the future of InterBaires' duty-free business in the country

Yesterday InterBaires was forced to vacate 75% of its retail space at Buenos Aires Ezeiza, plus some of its offices.

Under a contract extension negotiated in 2001, InterBaires was to remain the duty-free operator at AA2000 airports until 2027, with over 1,000sq m (10,080sq ft) of extra retail space. But following the change of ownership of InterBaires last November, when Deutsche Bank took control of the Exxel Group's 80% stake, landlord and retailer have been in dispute about the exact details of InterBaires' contract.

The issue came to a head yesterday when AA2000 applied to remove InterBaires from the additional space it is occupying in a number of airports.

InterBaires ceo Enrique Urioste told DFNI: "Yesterday a court official and a representative of AA2000 arrived in our offices instructing us to abandon certain retail areas as well as office space alleging that these spaces were not included in the current contract.

"The court order is wrong, arbitrary and totally illegitimate. Our position is based on law, which is used to protect the assets of public companies from those who try and seize public property illegally. AA2000 is a private company and cannot use the law in this way."

He continued: "We are up to date with all our payments and the current contract, which we insist is valid until 2027 and is still a legal contract as far as we are concerned. This morning we presented an appeal and we hope to get a favourable judgement in a matter of days. As long as this contract is in force, we are the sole and exclusive duty-free operators in the airports managed by AA2000. We will use all methods at our disposal to avoid our assets being seized. We are pursuing AA2000 through the criminal, civil and commercial courts."

InterBaires is suing AA2000 for the revenues it has lost after vacating its key retail spaces.

InterBaires president Daniel Pozzoli commented: "The intention of InterBaires and our main shareholder Deutsche Bank is to continue to strengthen the company. Our plan and our strategy are based on continuing in our concession until 2027."

At the time of writing AA2000 was not available for comment.