Thai King Power wins duty-free auction for Suvarnabhumi airport

Lotte

31/05/2019 06:02

BANGKOK, May 31 (Reuters) - Thailand's King Power Duty Free
 KPDUT.UL  scored the highest in a concession bid to operate the
lucrative duty-free shops at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi
International Airport, the state-owned Airports of Thailand
(AOT)  AOT.BK  said on Friday.
    The unlisted King Power Group, owner of the English Premier
League's Leicester City Football Club, has been the sole
duty-free operator at Suvaranbhumi since the airport's opening
in 2006.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1X91Y5
    The current duty-free licence for Suvarnabhumi airport will
expire next year. 
    King Power Group was competing against two bidders - a
venture between South Korea's Lotte  004990.KS  and Bangkok
Airways Pcl  BA.BK , and another between Royal Orchid Hotel
Thailand Pcl  ROH.BK , Empire Asia Group, and a unit of travel
retailer World Duty Free Group.
    Two other companies - Thailand retail giant Central Group
and Minor International  MINT.BK  - did not submit their bids
last week.
    "The company that scored the highest is King Power Duty Free
Company and the winner offered the highest return than what AOT
has received before and higher than AOT estimate," Wichai Bunyu,
senior executive vice president, AOT, said in an official
statement.
    The AOT will submit the rating to its remuneration committee
on June 12. The committee will decide the technical score and
revenue King Power would share with AOT before the board of
directors officially approves the winner on June 19.
    The new concession will begin on Sept. 28, 2020 and will
expire on March 31, 2031.
    Duty-free business is a major beneficiary of a tourism boom
in Thailand, where arrivals exceeded 38 million people in 2018.
    AOT booked 16.7 billion baht ($525.82 million) from
concession revenue in its last fiscal year, a 13.3% jump from a
year earlier.
    The Thai government had ordered a review of duty-free
auction period amid monopoly concerns after more than a decade
of dominance by King Power.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2121DQ
    On June 3, AOT will announce the winner who will also
operate duty-free shops at Chiang Mai, Phuket and Hat Yai
airports.
    
    ($1 = 31.7600 baht)

 (Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um, Panarat Thepgumpanat, and Chayut
Setboonsarng, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
 ((Panu.Wongcha-um@thomsonreuters.com; +6626488658;))