{"id":120233,"date":"2021-04-07T17:21:55","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T17:21:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=120233"},"modified":"2021-04-07T17:21:55","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T17:21:55","slug":"brazil-raises-600-million-in-privatization-auction-of-22-airports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/markets\/brazil-raises-600-million-in-privatization-auction-of-22-airports\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazil raises $600 million in privatization auction of 22 airports"},"content":{"rendered":"
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil on Wednesday auctioned 22 airports, raising 3.3 billion reais ($593.11 million), with the largest group of airports won by infrastructure company CCR , part of a wave of privatizations that the government is pushing.<\/p> \u201cWe had an extraordinary result in this auction, despite the fact that the COVID pandemic strongly affected all airports\u201d, said Brazil\u2019s Infrastructure Minister Tarcisio de Freitas after the auction ended.<\/p>\n Brazil is auctioning airports as the air travel industry undergoes one of its worst crisis in history. The pandemic brought air travel to a standstill last year and while it has been recovering in developed countries like the United States, flight demand in Brazil has been weakened recently by a brutal second wave.<\/p>\n Brazilian infrastructure company CCR won licenses to operate the two largest blocks of airports, including the airport of the southern city of Curitiba.<\/p>\n The auction raised a similar amount of money as a previous airport auction in 2019, when the auction of a single group of airports in Brazil\u2019s northeast raised $500 million.<\/p>\n Freitas said the government was focusing more on how much winners would invest than in value paid to government.<\/p>\n CCR will operate 15 airports, nine in south Brazil, for which it bid 2.1 billion reais ($382 million), and six in the central region, with a 754 million reais ($135 million) bid.<\/p>\n CCR Chief Executive Marcos Cauduro said the company will bid on the next privatization auctions and that has a 5 billion-real cash position, enough to pay for the licenses acquired on Wednesday.<\/p>\n France\u2019s Vinci Airports agreed to pay 420 million reais ($75.3 million) to operate seven airports in the northern region.<\/p>\n Among the companies that placed losing bids were Spain\u2019s Aena, Argentina\u2019s Corporacion America Airports and funds managed by asset managers Patria Investments and XP Inc .<\/p>\n ($1 = 5.5639 reais)<\/p>\n