Two French banks shortlisted for MIA advisory role

by Franco Aloisio

Two top French banks – BNP and SG – and consultants KPMG are the three companies shortlisted to act as advisers in the privatisation of Malta International Airport (MIA), sources close to the company said yesterday.
The Cabinet of Ministers will soon take a decision on which of these three companies will be appointed as adviser. This decision will have a strong bearing on the mode of privatisation to be adopted.
The Malta Business Weekly is informed that originally nine companies had presented a bid to assist the MIA in its privatisation programme. The bids closed in December 2000. Earlier this month, the MIA Privatisation Ad-Hoc Committee narrowed down the list to three companies. The sources added that negotiations are currently underway with BNP, SG and KPMG.
BNP and SG are leading international banking institutions, specialising in privatisation bids all around the world.
The majority of candidates that presented bids to MIA were foreign advisers or consultancies who have representative offices here in Malta. Originally, 13 candidates had submitted a proposal for the position. These were shortlisted to nine, and now the list has been narrowed down to three.
The bidders which did not make it onto the final list were mainly consortia made up of various individuals or companies specialising in various fields related to the privatisation of an airport. These include legal experts, transport and technical advisers and accountancy firms.
Towards the end of last year, the MIA Privatisation Ad-Hoc Committee had asked the candidates to present their costings. Following this process, a decision was taken to
further shortlist the number of
candidates. The role of an adviser in the MIA privatisation process is very important. The adviser will guide the airport’s board on how to identify the best strategic investors. They will also help the company to prepare itself fully for privatisation.
“What is important is that the adviser leads us to that investor which does not necessarily offer the highest bid for the airport, but which will increase the business and revenue base of the company,” Lawrence Zammit, MIA chairman, had told The Malta Independent on Sunday last year.
He added the adviser will be working closely with the government and the MIA, together with the Privatisation Unit, to achieve the goals set.
It is still not clear whether the MIA will be privatised this year, although the government has already made it clear that it intends doing so.