The entire company, which posted RON647 million revenue in 2014, should be worth about RON2 billion.
The government hopes to have the operator of the Aurel Vlaicu (Baneasa) and Henri Coanda (Otopeni) airports go public this year, after having ended 2014 with a significant rise in revenue and profit. The revenue went up by 11% to RON647 million, while the net profit rose 43% to RON98 million, amid 9% higher passenger traffic.
The Transport Ministry owns 80% in the company, while Fondul Proprietatea (FP.RO) owns 20%.
No other country in Central and Eastern Europe except for Austria and Slovenia has listed its main airport on the stock market, but Budapest’s Franz List Airport is held by private investors.
“The decision for CNAB’s listing has been made,” Prime Minister Victor Ponta was quoted as saying by Mediafax last week.
This is not the first time the airport operator’s listing was discussed. Back in 2005, the government pledged in the law establishing Fondul Proprietatea to have minority stakes of 5% in the companies where Fondul Proprietatea was a shareholder listed. The deadline was set for December 31, 2008 and postponed repeatedly.
ZF used the companies on mature markets like Vienna and Zurich as a reference to assess the market value of Bucharest Airports National Company.
The market capitalization of the airports in Vienna and Zurich is nine times their EBITDA (the EV/EBITDA multiple) and 21 times higher than earnings (the P/E multiple). Applying the multiples to last year’s results of the Bucharest airports operator, one arrives at a market value estimation of RON2 billion to RON2.2 billion.
The Bucharest airport operator listed shares should be worth at least RON400 million (20%) or as much as RON660 million (30%). It is expected that investors will ask for a discount considering the Bucharest Stock Exchange is much smaller and less liquid. Fondul Proprietatea values its 20% stake at merely RON332 million, suggesting a RON1.66 billion market value for the entire company.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)