Acsa to issue R2bn bond to expand

Cape Town – Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) will issue its first bond to raise an initial R2 billion for capital expenditure on airport expansion by March next year.

Financial director Brooks Mparutsa said on Friday: “This will be the first of several issues. Of the R5.2 billion Acsa will spend on upgrading airports, about 60 percent will be funded through bond issues.”

Standard Bank and Nedbank are joint advisers for the bond issue programme.

Ahead of the bond issue, Acsa is working to secure a credit rating and has appointed Merrill Lynch as advisers on this score.

Acsa’s capital investment programme, which is primarily targeted at its three international airports in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, has already begun.

Mparutsa said the bond issues, which would fund projects at these three airports, would increase Acsa’s gearing from 7 percent to 52 percent.

More funds would be needed for the new airport at La Mercy, north of Durban, which is expected to cost more than R2 billion.

Construction of the La Mercy airport will begin in March next year and is scheduled to be completed in October 2009.

The KwaZulu-Natal provincial government will spend R500 million on developing a light manufacturing hub next to the new airport.

The Acsa projects under way include a new 4 500m2 duty-free retail space at OR Tambo International Airport, a new parkade and the northern pier to handle the Airbus A380 aircraft.

At Cape Town International Airport, a new apron and upgrades to the domestic terminal are under way. At Durban International Airport a new parkade is being built.

The projects are partially aimed at handling the expected 350 000 people who will visit South Africa during the 2010 soccer World Cup. But passenger volumes are also expected to continue rising ahead of the World Cup.

Mparutsa said Acsa had forecast annual growth in passenger volumes of 7 percent over the next five years in terms of domestic travel and growth of 4 percent to 5 percent for international passengers.

Source: www.busrep.co.za

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