Macquarie Asset Management is acquiring a 50% stake in Latin American airport concessionaires Opain and Corporación Quiport.
Macquarie Infrastructure Partners V (MIP V) is acquiring the interest from Odinsa, the concessions company of Colombia’s Grupo Argos.
Opain is the operator and manager of El Dorado International Airport, which serves Colombia’s capital city of Bogota. Quiport operates Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito, Ecuador.
The airports platform also includes three additional private airport initiatives in Colombia.
Karl Kuchel, CEO of Macquarie Infrastructure Partners, said: “This investment expands our highly valued existing partnership with Odinsa, and we look forward to working collaboratively with key stakeholders going forward to further strengthen transportation infrastructure across the region.”
Jorge Mario Velásquez, president of Grupo Argos and of the board of directors of Odinsa, said the new platform would bring together the experience, technical capabilities, track record and financial strength of two major companies to develop airport infrastructure in Colombia and the region. This is an important milestone in the materialisation of Grupo Argos’ strategic thesis.”
El Dorado International Airport is the second-busiest passenger airport in South America, first by cargo. It serves nearly 35m passengers over 47 domestic destinations and 49 international destinations.
Mariscal Sucre International Airport at Quito, the capital of Ecuador, serves nearly five million passengers.
Quiport holds a 35-year concession to operate Mariscal Sucre International Airport from 2006 to 2041. Opain holds a 20-year concession to operate El Dorado until 2027, with an extension of up to four years.
The transaction comes three months after MIP V and Odinsa, which owns majority stakes in four operating toll roads in Colombia, established a toll-road platform.
Macquarie raised US$7bn (€7.19bn) MIP V in 2021 to invest in infrastructure in the Americas.
