The French government plans to sell minority state shares in four regional airports and has opened a tender to select a bank to oversee the sale, business newspaper Les Echos reported on Sunday, citing unnamed sources.
The airports whose shares will be for sale include Lyon, Nice, Toulouse, and Bordeaux, the newspaper reported, adding that Macquarie Group and industrial investor Vinci are among the candidates to oversee the sale. The government has promised to remain the majority owner of these airports until 2013, but private investors can purchase shares up to 49 percent, Les Echos reported. Cumulatively, the shares in the airports are worth hundreds of millions of euros. Private equity funds are increasingly looking to invest in infrastructure as European governments modernize roads and airports to stimulate their economies. (H)
