Atlantia has announced it has reached an agreements for the acquisition of a 29.38% stake in the share capital of Aeroporto Guglielmo Marconi SpA, listed company and holder of the concession of the Bologna airport.

In details the agreements envisage that Atlantia will buy a 11.53% stake from Italian Airports S.A.R.L. (Strategic Capital Advisors) for a price of €15.50 per share and a total consideration of €64.6 million (US$76.2 million) and a 17.85% stake from San Lazzaro Investments Spain, S.L. (Amber Capital) for a price of €15.50 per share and a total consideration of €99.9 million (US$117.8 million).

The total investment for Atlantia will be c. €164.5 million (US$194 million).

This agreement includes also a mechanism of partial upward adjustment of the price in case in a 18-month time a public purchase or exchange offer on the shares is launch by Atlantia at a price higher than the price recognized, circumstance of which Atlantia is not aware of.

Bologna airport is the six Italian airport in terms of passenger, 7.7 million in 2016. In the first half of 2017 the airport recorded a 6.6% growth in passenger with an outlook for the full year of more than 8 million passengers.

Located in the heart of the Emilian food valley and the automotive and packaging industrial districts, the airport has a catchment area of about 11 million inhabitants with an extremely high concentration of internationally oriented enterprises and with commercial expansion policies to Eastern Europe and Asia. The area is also one of the most relevant tourist destinations of the country. Such features make Marconi Airport attractive for a balanced blend of both leisure and business passengers.

Atlantia’s CEO, Giovanni Castellucci stated:

“Our investment in Bologna Airport, although purely financial, recognizes the great potential of development of the airport. The completion of the people mover with the Bologna high speed train station will further increase the competitiveness of the airport at other destinations in central-northern Italy. We hope to contribute to the further development of the company with the support that a large operator as Atlantia can offer.”