German airport operator Fraport has signed a €109m (US$126m) agreement today (August 6) with iCON Flughafen (iCON) – part of investment firm iCON Infrastructure – to sell its entire 30% stake in Hannover Airport, Germany.
Fraport initially acquired 20% of shares in Flughafen Hannover-Langenhagen GmbH (FHLG), the operator of Hannover Airport, in 1998, which was then followed by another 10% in 2003. The other 70% of FHLG is held equally by two co-shareholders: The City of Hannover and the Hannoversche Beteiligungsgesellschaft – a wholly-owned company belonging to the State of Lower Saxony.
The closing of the transaction is dependent on the contractually agreed pre-emption rights held by the two co-shareholders. Fraport currently expects the transaction to be concluded during the next two months.
Dr Stefan Schulte, executive board chairman, Fraport, said, “For some time, we have received strong interest from the market for Fraport to sell its stake in Hannover Airport. This underscores Fraport’s competence in increasing the value of our airport investments, wherever we operate around the world.
“We achieve this by enhancing operations, infrastructure, and the customer experience. At the same time, we are pursuing the goal to acquire majority stakes in airports or to hold a position of significant influence in these airport companies.
“Hannover Airport is a solid business with a bright future. It has developed into an important aviation gateway in northern Germany for both passenger and cargo traffic. We would like to thank the other FHLG shareholders and the Hannover region for the excellent cooperation, and we wish them ongoing success.”