Goldman Sachs to be adviser for Domodedovo Airport sale
Moscow Domodedovo Airport, Russia's largest, has chosen investment bank Goldman Sachs to act as an adviser for the possible sale of the airport, a banking source told PRIME late Monday.
Representatives from the airport had been in talks with a number of investment banks, but later decided on Goldman Sachs as the bank had previously acted as the lead manager of Domodedovo's initial public offering (IPO), the source said.
In late May, the airport indefinitely postponed its IPO on the London Stock Exchange due to unfavorable market conditions. In addition to Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup were expected to act as organizers of the offering.
Prior to the IPO, Goldman Sachs valued the airport at about U.S. $3.5 billion-$7.5 billion, while Citigroup estimated the airport's value was at $4.2 billion-$5.3 billion, and J.P. Morgan valued the company at $4.3 billion-$4.4 billion.
Moscow Domodedovo Airport did not provide any details regarding its shareholders at the time of the planned IPO.
Following a deadly terrorist attack in January that killed 37 people at the airport's international arrivals hall, Russian prosecutors uncovered information that listed the airport's ownership with several offshore companies. However, further details regarding the airport's actual owners remain unknown.
In 2010, passenger traffic through the airport amounted to 22.253 million people.
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