Aena €4.3 billion IPO

Overview:

• Aena—the world’s largest airports operator by number of passengers—has raised €4.3 billion in an IPO that was the largest flotation on the Madrid stock market since 2007.
• The IPO was finalised at €58 a share, the top end of its expected price range, highlighting how investors are betting on a sustained economic recovery in Spain.
• The group had an equity value of €8.7 billion, enabling the Spanish government—acting through Enaire— to raise up to €4.3 billion.
• The IPO consisted of a public offer by Enaire of up to 49% of the shares in Aena and the subsequent admission to its listing on the four Spanish Stock Exchanges through the Automated Quotation System (SIBE).
• This has been the most important IPO by volume carried out in Europe over the last four years and the second largest privatisation in the history of Spain.
• Another aspect of the deal has been the coexistence of the IPO with a process of private placement of up to 21% of the share capital in Aena to three anchor investors.
• In the aviation industry there has been a clear trend towards global airport infrastructure platforms, as Aena's customers and suppliers are already increasingly global, this opens the gates for deepened overseas expansion.

Adam Majeed - Regional editor