RIYADH
(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia plans to transfer ownership of all its airports to its
main sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, as part of a drive to
privatize
them, a senior aviation official said on Monday.
Companies
will be set up for each airport under Saudi Civil Aviation Holding, a spin-off
from the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), which will continue to
regulate the industry, state news agency SPA quoted Mohammed al-Shetwey, aide
to GACA's president for financial affairs, as saying.
"The
process of establishing companies will continue for all airports, and the civil
aviation holding company in the future will be 100 percent owned by the Public
Investment Fund," Shetwey said.
He added
that a company had already been established for Dammam's main airport, while an
expanded King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah would start operating
in the second half of 2018 under the management of Singapore's Changi Airport
Group.
Shetwey did
not say when or how the Public Investment Fund would sell stakes in the airport
companies under the privatization program.
However,
sources told Reuters last month that Saudi Arabia had hired Goldman Sachs
(GS.N) to manage the sale of a stake in Riyadh's King Khalid International
Airport, which would be the first major privatization. The size of the stake to
be offered was not revealed.
Shetwey said
a project to refurbish that airport, which handled 22.5 million passengers in
2016, would begin after next week's haj pilgrimage.
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