The encyclopedia · Finance & Accounting · Financial decision · 2011–2012
Brazil auctioned three airports at once, one per winner, and got R$24.5B
Simultaneous hybrid auctions with a one-airport-per-winner cap drew 11 consortia; Brasília, Guarulhos and Viracopos sold for 4.5x the minimum.
Government of Brazil (ANAC) · Invepar-ACSA consortium · InfrAmérica consortium
the move
Brazil's three busiest airports — Brasília, Guarulhos and Viracopos, handling 30 percent of passengers and 57 percent of air cargo — were at capacity ahead of the 2014 World Cup, and the state had no money to expand them. In July 2011 the government put them in the national privatization program.
On 6 February 2012 ANAC auctioned the three concessions simultaneously on the BM&FBOVESPA exchange, with a hybrid design: a sealed-bid first-price stage followed by an oral ascending auction, and a rule that each consortium could win at most one airport.
Eleven consortia made up of 28 companies competed over about three hours. Winning offers totaled R$24.5 billion, nearly five times the R$5.477 billion minimum: R$16.213 billion for Guarulhos, R$4.51 billion for Brasília and R$3.821 billion for Viracopos — an average premium of 347 percent.
Payments flow to the National Civil Aviation Fund as fixed annual installments indexed to inflation, plus variable contributions of 2-10 percent of gross revenue, funding the rest of the airport network.
why it works
- Simultaneous auctions made every lot a contest instead of a series of negotiated deals.
- The one-per-winner cap forced consortia to choose their best airport and bid hard for it.
- The hybrid sealed-plus-ascending format let prices escalate while protecting serious bids.
- Revenue-linked payments share the upside of traffic growth with the state.
what transfers
When auctioning several similar assets, run them at once and cap wins per bidder: the constraint stops one player sweeping all lots and keeps bidding competitive in each.
what came after
The 2012 round became the template for later Brazilian airport concessions: six more rounds followed, drawing international operators into the sector, though high upfront premiums later forced renegotiations at some airports when traffic and revenue disappointed.
references
- Leilão de aeroportos tem ágio médio de 347%
- Leilão dos aeroportos: uma análise da restrição de oferta unitária
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