A fund managed by Ashmore Colombia, an Andean private equity investment manager and subsidiary of Ashmore Group plc, one of the world's leading Emerging Markets investment managers, has acquired an 85% interest in Compañía de Desarollo Aeropuerto Eldorado, S.A., Codad S.A., the concessionaire of the two runways at El Dorado Airport in Bogotá, from Abertis for a total consideration of COP132 billion (approximately US$66 million).

Codad was incorporated in 1995 to execute the concession contract for the construction of the second runway at El Dorado Airport and to perform maintenance on both of El Dorado's runways. El Dorado is Colombia's largest airport carrying the third highest number of passengers in Latin America, with 22.5 million passengers recorded in 2012 and is the busiest airport in Latin America by cargo traffic.

This is the fund's eighth investment since it launched in 2010.

Camilo Villaveces, President and CEO of Ashmore Colombia, said:

"The acquisition of Codad is a significant transaction for us. The considerable growth in international traffic witnessed at El Dorado Airport underlines the attractiveness of this sector that we believe offers potential across the Andean region".

In all, Abertis has not taken in "significant capital gains", an announcement sent to Spain's Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV) read. The firm Compañía de Desarrollo Aeropuerto El Dorado (Codad) was one of the major assets compounding a portfolio named Desarrollo de Concesiones Aeroportuarias (DCA). The bundle of assets was acquired by Abertis in 2007 for €270.8 million, after ACS had put it for grabs.

Reached this point, Abertis retains only an airport in Jamaica and owns a stake in Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP), the most valuable asset in the DCA portfolio.