Airports Fraport sells Hanover Airport stake

Fraport said, that the airport has sold the 30 percent stake in Hanover Airport to iCON Flughafen GmbH for a total of €109.2 million. The transaction is expected to be concluded within the next two months, depending on agreements for pre-emption rights that are being held by two further shareholders.

With the transaction, Fraport AG is expecting a positively influenced Group result for the 2018 business year by about €60 million. Moreover, the operator´s Hanover transaction will contribute nearly €85 million to the Group EBT. This circumstance reflects in around €25 million for the Group EBITDA and EBIT for the current business year.

Dr. Stefan Schulte, Fraport AG’s executive board chairman, said: “For some time, we have received strong interest from the market for Fraport to sell its stake in Hanover Airport.  This underscores Fraport’s competence in increasing the value of our airport investments, wherever we operate around the world.  We achieve this by enhancing operations, infrastructure, and the customer experience.  At the same time, we are pursuing the goal to acquire majority stakes in airports or to hold a position of significant influence in these airport companies.”

Initially, Fraport acquired shares in Hanover Airport back in 1998 with a 20 percent interest. The airport then bought an additional 10 percent on 2003. The other 70 percent of Hanover Airport´s stakes are being hold by the Hannoversche Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH and the City of Hanover.

Hanover Airport is the international airport of Hanover and is located in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is being considered as Germany´s ninth largest airport and is located 11km North of Hanover´s city centre. In 2017, the overall traffic rose by 8.5 percent to 5.9 million passengers. In the first six months of 2018, a 7.8 percent in passenger increase was booked. Recently, DHL announced that it will open a new cargo facility at the airport.

Schulte added: “Hanover Airport is a solid business with a bright future.  It has developed into an important aviation gateway in northern Germany for both passenger and cargo traffic."