VINCI Airports has closed a $1.17bn deal to buy Fintech Advisory’s 29.99% interest in Mexican airport operator OMA (Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte).
The transaction makes VINCI the largest shareholder in OMA, which will manage 13 airports in Mexico until 2048.
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VINCI signed the deal with Fintech Advisory in July this year.
The company will now operate Monterrey International Airport in Nuevo León, Mexico, which handles around half of OMA’s total passenger traffic.
It will also operate airports in Chihuahua, Ciudad Juarez, Culiacan and Mazatlan, as well as regional and tourist airports on the Pacific coast and in the centre of Mexico.
These airports are located at Acapulco, San Luis Potosí, Torreon, Zihuatanejo, Durango, Zacatecas, Tampico and Reynosa.
OMA airports handled 21 million passengers and flights to and from 170 destinations in the first 11 months of this year.
Since July last year, passenger traffic at these airports has been higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic.
To support passengers travelling to and from the US, VINCI intends to begin direct flights between Monterrey and Los Angeles, Houston, Detroit and Austin.
VINCI is already active in the US, Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. The company said the latest deal will further strengthen its presence in the Americas.
It plans to implement an environmental action plan to reach net-zero emissions across its network by 2050.
Earlier this year, VINCI received a 40-year concession from the French Government to operate Faa’a International Airport (Tahiti International Airport) (PPT) in French Polynesia.
VINCI Airports has a 51% holding in a new concession company that will operate the airport, with the remaining 49% stake being held by French Polynesia.
The new company will operate, promote, develop, maintain and upgrade the airport, which is considered the main airport and gateway to French Polynesia.
