The French government has selected an Atlantia Invest-EDF consortium for the privatization of the airport of Nice Côte d'Azur and a team of Vinci Airports - Caisse des Dépôts – Crédit Agricole Assurances for the privatization of Lyon Saint-Exupéry airport.

The total value of the first transaction has totaled €1.22 billion and the value of the second transactions was €535 million. 

As we reported in mid April, the transaction involves the sell of the 60 percent share owned by the French State​ in those airport companies. The other shareholders are the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry (25 percent) and local authorities (15 percent).

According to sources five teams submitted proposals for Nice airport, namely:

Italy's Atlantia along with EDF's investment branch EDF Invest; a consortium led by Ardian and including Caisses d'Epargne; Spain's Ferrovial with Meridiam; a consortium of Vinci, CDC and Predica; Germany's Allianz alongside Global Infrastructure Partners.

On the other hand, six teams bid for Lyon airport:

These include Ardian-Siparex-Caisses d'Epargne-holding JCDecaux; Ferrovial-Meridiam; Vinci-CDC-Predica; Atlantia; Limak-the Cube fund-Geneva airport; and Macquarie along with FFP.

HSBC and Mediobanca advised Agence des participations de l'État (APE), a vehicle of the Government of France managing the state's holdings in several firms, for the two airport privatization processes.

Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (2014 turnover: €231.6 million) is an international airport located 5.9 km southwest of Nice, in the Alpes-Maritimes department of France. It is the third busiest airport in France. In 2013, it handled 11.55 million passengers. The airport's theoretical capacity is 13 million passengers and 52 movements (26 landings) per hour.

Lyon-Saint-Exupéry Airport (2014 turnover: €158.4 million) is the international airport of Lyon, the third biggest city in France and an important transport facility for the entire Rhône-Alpes region. In 2013, the airport served 8.56 million passengers, an increase of 1.3% over the previous year. Air freight increased by 22.7% to 44,820 tones, although overall aircraft movements dropped by 2.8% to 113,420.