Wisa and Motta winners in Panama tender

John Gallagher

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Wisa Group and Motta Group have both secured space in a hard fought contest at Panama City International airport

Wisa Group and Motta have agreed to pay Tocumen airport authority a total of $173m to manage the duty-free concession at Panama City International airport.

The Wisa Group was the highest bidder for first block of duty-free space of just under 500 sq m (5,381sq ft) with $57.75m when the financial bids for the ten year duty-free concession at Tocumen International Airport were opened yesterday. Duty Free of Panama (part of the Motta Group) was given 15 minutes to equal the Wisa bid to take control of the second block of shops and the company decided to increase its original bid of $ 35.92m to $57.75m.

UETA / DFA was left out in the cold at Panama as the Wisa Group confirmed to the airport authority that it would match its own highest bid of $57.75m to take over the third block of outlets and ensure control of two thirds of the available retail space.

UETA/DFA’s low initial bid of $30m surprised many industry players and several wondered what the company’s future was in the country. But a UETA spokesman said that the business would continue to invest in Panama and industry observers told Ravenfox.com that UETA was looking closely at a new multimodal transport project situated close to the Colon Free Zone.

In addition to the advanced payments, the airport authority will also receive $100 per sq m rental and 8% of total sales from both Wisa and Motta. Many industry sources have questioned whether both Panamian companies can make money with the new fee and rental system in place. Although it's uncertain how good sales will be at the airport,  it's clear that Motta and Wisa will have to work hard during the ten-year concession to get a return on their investment.

Wisa Group chairman Abdul Waked sounded confident enough of sales at Tocumen to establish the Nur Foundation, a special charity to help needy Panamian children, which will be financed by Wisa with 10% of the company’s duty-free profits in Tocumen. Waked told the local press, “We are sure that business will be good - the numbers work for us and we will be creating new jobs for Panamians. We have a lot of exclusive lines and this will be a major boost to sales.”

See Ravenfox.com for more comment from the winners later in the week.