THE SLOVAK Antitrust Office (PMÚ), which is examining the entry of the TwoOne consortium into the Bratislava and Košice airports as the 66 percent owner of both airports, has put off ruling on the matter.
"Since this is a complicated case, the office has made use of an option granted it by the law and has extended the deadline for issuing a verdict until August 14," PMÚ spokesman Miroslav Jurkovič told the SITA news agency.
Representatives of the Transport Ministry, the National Property Fund state privatization agency, and the TwoOne consortium, which includes Vienna Airport, Austrian Raiffeisen Zentralbank and the Slovak private equity group Penta, signed a privatization contract for 66 percent in the Bratislava and Košice airports on February 10.
However, this contract only takes effect once the investor meets additional conditions, such as obtaining approval from the Slovak PMÚ as well as from the Austrian antitrust authority. The TwoOne consortium must obtain the approvals by August 15. If the consortium fails to do so, the transport minister may propose by September 1 at the latest that the consortium that came second in the privatization tender should be declared the winner. In this case, the consortium comprising the Spanish company Abertis, the British TBI and the J&T Slovak investment group would win the airports.
Compiled by Martina Jurinová from press reports
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