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Sunshine Coast Regional Council has awarded to Palisade Investment Partners Limited a 99-year concession contract for the Sunshine Coast Airport (SCA).

Palisade has also made arrangements with Council for the construction of a new 2.45 km runway, apron expansion and related infrastructure.The runway project will reduce operational constraints at the airport, facilitate new route opportunities, increased passenger growth and economic development of the region by providing capacity to accommodate larger, more fuel-efficient aircraft and enabling more direct flights.

According to soures, the estimated cost of the Sunshine Coast Airport expansion stands at AUD319 million.

The SCA transaction will be funded through equity commitments from Palisade's Diversified Infrastructure Fund (PDIF), together with investments from two of Palisade’s institutional clients, LGIAsuper and VicSuper.

Gresham Partners and Gilbert & Tobin acted for Palisade as financial and legal advisers respectively.

Sunshine Coast Airport handled more than one million passengers in the 12 months to November 2016, the first time it had broken through the one million mark in its history.

Palisade Managing Director & CEO Roger Lloyd said:

“We are very excited about this investment, which expands our decade-long involvement in the regional airport sector through investments in the Darwin, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek airports. We intend forging a long-term partnership with Sunshine Coast Regional Council to enhance the value of this strategic Australian infrastructure asset.”

“I am also delighted to announce that Dennis Chant has been appointed to assist in the transition of SCA into private ownership and ongoing governance of the business. Dennis is the former CEO of Queensland Airports Limited, and is one of Australia’s most experienced regional airport managers through his role in growing Gold Coast, Townsville and other regional airports.”