VINCI Airports has formalised a contract with the Advent International private equity firm to acquire Aeropuertos Dominicanos Siglo XXI, SA (AERODOM). The Dominican company holds the concession from the Dominican Government and the Airport Commission to operate airports in the Dominican Republic, valid until March 2030 with an option for renewal.

AERODOM is currently responsible for the management and operation of six of the nine airports in the country, which together handled around 4.3 million passengers last year. These include Las Américas International Airport, serving Santo Domingo, the country’s capital, since 1959 and Gregorio Luperón Airport in Puerto Plata is the gateway to the island’s second largest tourist destination. The others comprise the smaller Presidente Juan Bosch and Arroyo Barril airports in Samaná, La Isabela in Santo Domingo and María Montez in Barahona.

The transaction and the transfer of operations are to take place by the end of the first quarter of 2016 and will bring the number of airports operated by VINCI Airports to 33, including eleven in France, ten in Portugal, three in Cambodia and one in Chile (since October this year). Its airport network currently encompasses flights from over 100 different airlines, handling around 47 million passengers annually, with a turnover of € 717 million.

The AERODOM deal follows just a month after VINCI Airports in partnership with Japanese company Orix, signed a preliminary agreement to expand in Asia having been selected by the New Kansai International Airport Company (NKIAC) as preferred Negotiation Right Holder for the 44-year Concession for Kansai International Airport and Osaka International Airport.

The entry into the Dominican Republic market illustrates the VINCI Group’s strategy of expansion in countries with strong growth potential. “With an average annual growth rate of five per cent over the past ten years, the Dominican Republic features an attractive economy and forms a dynamic region. The country notably benefits from North American growth and the local authorities’ ambitious tourism expansion policy,” it said in a statement.

The Dominican Republic market is dominated by international air services and across the AERODOM airport network 98 per cent of passenger traffic is from that segment. According to OAG schedule data, available capacity into the Dominican Republic increased by an average annual rate of 7.5 per cent between 2005 and 2014 and is forecasted to grow 5.5 per cent this year, based on published schedules and exceeding the seven million departure seat milestone for the first time.