Grabbing the bull

5 June 2015 By Fiona Maharg-Bravo

Chris Hohn’s fund, the largest private investor in airport group Aena, is joining the company in challenging what it thinks is a misguided antitrust authority. Antagonising the supervisor is risky, but the accounting dispute puts more than 1 billion euros of value at stake.

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Spanish airport group Aena’s largest private investor, the Children’s Investment Fund (TCI), on May 18 filed a claim against Spain’s antitrust watchdog, the Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC). TCI accuses the CNMC of issuing an arbitrary resolution on the calculation of airport tariffs which could cost the operator 1 billion euros in net present value terms. The claim comes on top of one filed by Aena on May 13.

The company agreed to pursue its legal claim at its annual general meeting held on June 3, despite a negative vote from shareholders on TCI’s proposal to pursue further legal action against the market watchdog on its resolutions on the calculation of tariffs.

On April 30, the CNMC published a resolution arguing that Aena misclassified commercial costs as regulated aviation activities. It says Aena should revise its accounting practices, which would lower airport tariffs by 2-3 percent. Aena is moving towards a “dual-till” system by 2018, whereby only the income that it charges the airlines is regulated, leaving the company free to earn extra income from commercial retail operations like duty-free or parking.

“This resolution is arbitrary and unexpected as the CNMC, which is not a regulatory body, has no legal or regulatory authority over the way by which airport costs are allocated,” TCI said in a statement on May 27.

Aena went public on Feb. 11, raising 4.3 billion euros. Shares have since risen 62 percent. TCI is Aena’s second-largest shareholder with a 7.7 percent stake. The Spanish government owns 51 percent.

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