Mexico Expects Windfall From Airport Group

Mexico´s Communications and Transportation Department said last week the government expects to earn more than $600 million from an initial public offering this year of its 85 percent stake in the Pacific airport group.

"This is going to be the biggest private airport group in the Americas," said Rodolfo Salgado, who heads the department´s group in charge of privatizations and other projects.

Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico comprises 13 airports, including those that serve major cities like Tijuana and Guadalajara, and popular tourist destinations such as Puerto Vallarta and San Jose del Cabo.

The concern´s strategic partner and operator –a mix of private Mexican investors and Spanish conglomerates- will retain the 15 percent that the government sold when it partially-privatized the group in 1999.

The public placement of the 85 percent stake in Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacific was initially planned for late 2001, but was postponed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States led to a slump in international air travel.