Citizens to be paid dividend for all 25 years – Agreement on concession of Nikola Tesla Airport to be made public in September

All citizens of Serbia who received a free share of the Nikola Tesla Airport, who didn’t sell it in the meantime, have the right to be paid dividend from the one-off payment of the concession fee by the concessionaire Vinci Airports, but also the dividend for the duration of the 25-year concession, depending on the results of the Airport’s operations, the Government of Serbia told Tanjug.

In line with the public agreement on the concession, as explained in the Government’s written response, the ownership over the capital of AD ANT is not transferred, nor does the concessionaire acquire the right of managing the Airport’s shares, and the shareholders will be paid dividend in line with the decision of the General Meeting for the duration of the concession.

They remind that the public invitation for the concession of the airport defines the one-off compensation, as an advance payment, as well as annual concession fees, which the concessionaire is obligated to pay depending on the results of its operations.

The concessionaire of the Belgrade Airport, Vinci Airports, offered a one-off concession compensation of EUR 501 million, and the payment is to be made through dividend, namely, EUR 417 million to the Republic of Serbia and EUR 84 million to small shareholders.

– The annual concession fee is also to be paid to the Republic of Serbia and small shareholders as share divided each year – the Government specifies, but also emphasized that “shareholders do not acquire the right to be paid the concession fee by owning shares, but to the dividend based on the profit that AD ANT acquires”.

As they say, the concession fees (both the one-off compensation and the annual fees) are income to the Nikola Tesla Airport and the shareholders will be paid dividend based on the GM’s decisions by the airport during the concession. The dividend is paid to the shareholders in line with the rules pertaining to the shares they owned on the Record Date.

– The Record Date is December 31 of the year relative to which the profit is distributed and is defined by the Statute of AD ANT Beograd. In line with the Statute, the company can also pay an interim dividend at any time between the regular General Meetings, if there are conditions for it defined by law and depending on the realized and collected income. The right to be paid the interim dividend is exercised by shareholders on the interim dividend record date – it is pointed out in the answer.

The Government reminds that small shareholders will be paid dividend for 2017, as well as dividend for 2018 based on the results realized by the Nikola Tesla Airport, which, as they point out, remains the airport’s operator and continues with regular activities until the airport operator’s permit is transferred to the concessionaire.

According to the latest data of the Central Securities Depository, 3,297,810 shares of this Serbian company are currently owned by citizens, making up 9.6% of the total issue.

As Blic reports, citizens of Serbia can count on RSD 1,468 per share from the concession of the Airport, and if they’ve kept other shares as well and didn’t collect dividend, they can count of RSD 11,335.

Agreement on concession to be presented to citizens in September

The agreement on the awarding of the concession to the French airport operator Vinci Airports over the Nikola Tesla Airport will be published following the financial completion of the transaction, that is, the payment of the one-off concession compensation, planned for September.

– Vinci Airports understands the desire of the Government of Serbia to have the entire agreement, along with all the annexes, made public and is prepared to do so with all parts, except for those containing business secrets and their know-how, as well as the commercial terms of operation for the 25 years of the concession, as the publication of those would compromise their competitiveness in the realization of the agreement – the Government told Tanjug.

Vinci’s right to have its business secrets protected, they point out, is defined by the agreement itself.

– It is only after the transaction is financially completed – after the air operator’s certificate is transferred and the one-off concession compensation paid, which is planned for September 2018, that the publication of the agreement will be possible – says the written response by the Government.

As they note, public agreements are entered into the Public Agreement Register, run by the ministry in charge of finances, as a unified electronic database on the public procurement portal.

A.D. Aerodrom Nikola Tesla Beograd

Centralni registar HOV ad Beograd

Belgrade airport doo Beograd

VINCI Airports France

Ministarstvo finansija Republike Srbije

Belgrade Airport

concession of Belgrade Airport

concession of Nikola Tesla Airport

Vinci Airprots

free shares of the airport

Nikola Tesla Airport dividend

concession fees

one off concession compensation

annual concession fees

concessionaire of Belgrade Airport

Statute of AD Aerodrom Nikola Tesla

dividend

Belgrade Airport dividend payment

interim dividend

Public Agreement Register