Demand by domestic and international investors for shares in Athens International Airport exceeded 8.0 billion euros ($8.7 billion) Greek authorities announced on Friday.
According to the country’s privatization agency Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) the initial public offering of a 30 percent stake achieved an oversubscription level of roughly 12 times for the entire combined offering.
National Economy and Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis welcomed the successful completion of an initial public offering of the Eleftherios Venizelos airport as “yet another step forward for the Greek economy,” noting that the privatizations of the last seven months support investment momentum.
Listing of Athens Airport “boosts the Greek capital market”
“Firstly, the strong investment interest, which the offering oversubscribed by 12 times, raised the sale price of the shares to the highest price of the offering range and the total revenue for the State to 785 million euros. Secondly, the listing of the Airport on the Greek stock exchange significantly boosts the Greek capital market, with the addition of a business with a large capitalization,” the minister said.
He also noted that this latest development followed several other initiatives during the seven months since the last elections, both by HRADF and the Hellenic Fiscal Stability Fund (HFSF), with the state sector divestment from Eurobank, Alpha Bank, National Bank of Greece, the sale of shares in Helleniq Energy and concession contracts for regional ports and Attiki Odos.
“The government supported these initiatives with determination, ignoring populist reactions, because it believes in the investment dynamic of this policy. All these initiatives met with a good response from investors and the markets, a fact that indicates confidence in the Greek economy,” Hatzidakis added.
“With these initiatives, the groundwork has been done for attracting even more investments and for dynamic growth on firm foundations,” he concluded.
Passenger traffic at the Athens Airport set a new record in 2023
A previous effort to sell the stake in Athens International Airport to private investors in 2018 to 2020 ended after COVID-19 brought world travel to a halt.
In late November, Greece passed the final hurdle when the European Commission approved the plan for the listing of Athens International Airport on the Stock Exchange.
Passenger traffic at the Athens International Airport set a new all-time record in 2023, totaling 28,174,150 passengers, breaking the 28 million passengers barrier for the first time and surpassing the previous 2019 record of 25.57 million.
The number of flights totaled 241,604 in 2023. This was an increase of 13.2 percent from 2022 and 7.1 percent from 2019. Both domestic and international flights rose 7.4 percent and 18.1 percent respectively compared with 2022 and rose by 10.5 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively, compared with 2019.
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