Aerodrome Infrastructure, an affiliate of investment fund Fintech, is set to acquire 25% of Mexican airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte (OMA).

The group, which controls 13 airports in Mexico, said in a statement that its board approved the offer that the infrastructure firm made simultaneously in Mexico and the US on May 25 to acquire 97.5mn of its shares at 137 pesos each.

The transaction totals 13.4bn pesos (some US$670mn).

In its latest traffic report, OMA said it transported 1.55mn domestic and international passengers in May, down 22.8% compared to the same month 2019. Domestic traffic fell 27.1% while international traffic rose 15.5%.

Passenger traffic in May 2020 was just 131,000, due to sanitary measures implemented worldwide to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. 

In January-May, the group handled 5.96mn passengers, up 16.1% from the same period last year but down 34.1% from the first five months of 2019.

More mergers and acquisitions in Mexico’s infrastructure sector could be announced soon as vaccination efforts progress, Marcela Chacón, an analyst for Latin America at research firm Transactional Track Record (TTR), told BNamericas. 

“Part of the vaccination schemes worldwide have managed to mitigate uncertainty and volatility in the market to a certain extent, which undoubtedly includes the transactional market ... Even more so when the market for mergers and acquisitions in the infrastructure sector has reflected cautious behavior in the course of recent years in the country,” she said. 

“However, part of the growth of this sector will depend largely on the amount of investment in public works carried out in the country, on future signals that Mexico provides in [foreign direct investment], among other factors that promote restructuring and expansion plans.”

Source: Business News Americas / BN Americas - Chile