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The consortium New Pudahuel, formed by Aéroports de Paris (45 %), Vinci (40%) and Astaldi (15%) has reached the financial close for the concession for extension and operation of Santiago International airport (Arturo Merino Benítez) PPP project.

The consortium has obtained loans for the value of US$275 million from the Italy's Banca IMI, France's Credit Agricole and France's Societe Generale, Spain's Banco Santander and Spain's CaixaBank. Local banks Banco Santander Chile, Bice and BCI provided US$238 million.

Chile's Ministry of Public Works (MOP) awarded the concession contract to expand and operate Santiago's international airport to the Grupo Nuevo Pudahuel consortium in February 2015. The group started operations of the airport in October last year. 

The concession contract has a period of 20 years. The total project investment is estimated at UF14.8 million (US$593 million).

The concession includes the development of a 157,00 m² new international passenger terminal, the upgrade and expansion of the existing 110,000 m² domestic passenger terminal, the construction of more than 4,000 new parking spaces in a multi-storey car park, and a number of landscaping projects.

Santiago International Airport is located in Pudahuel, 15 km (9.3 mi) north-west of downtown Santiago, which accounts for nearly 70% of Chile's airport passenger traffic. It is Chile's largest aviation facility and the South America's main gateway to Australia and New Zealand.