Court clears concession deal for Sofia Airport

Tav Havalimanlari Holding

05/06/2020 17:22

SOFIA, June 5 (Reuters) - Bulgaria's top administrative
court cleared on Friday the way for the government to seal a
deal with a consortium led by asset manager Meridiam to run and
operate Sofia Airport, the Balkan country's main air transport
hub.
    The Supreme Administrative Court has upheld a competition
regulator decision that rejected appeals against the decision of
the transport ministry to pick the Meridiam-led consortium for a
35-year concession of the Sofia Airport. 
    "A tree-judge panel established that the Commission for
Protection of Competition correctly has not established any
breaches of the procedure or discrepancies between the offer of
the successful bidder and the tender documentation," the court
said in a statement.    
    Meridiam, which has teamed up with Germany's Munich Airport
as operator for the Sofia Airport, won the tender last July,
offering an annual concession fee of 24.5 million euros and
investment of 608 million euros.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N24I3P1
    Three other bidders, a consortium led by France's ADP
 ADP.PA , Germany's Fraport  FRAG.DE , Britain's largest airport
operator Manchester Airports Group, had contested the evaluation
of the bids.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N27Y1HQ

 (Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova, editing by Louise Heavens)
 ((tsvetelia.tsolova@thomsonreuters.com; +359-2-93-99-731;))