A new operator has been selected for Serbia's largest airport. Serbia has awarded French company VINCI Airports, the fourth largest airport operator worldwide, a 25-year concession. The total value of the agreement amounts to EU 1.5 billion. CMS Belgrade supported the Serbian government in this project, which ranks among the strategically most important in the country.

About a year and a half after the start of the concession award process, Serbia has confirmed VINCI Airports as the new operator of the Belgrade airport. The French company will run the airport for the next 25 years and also committed to considerable investments to further develop Nikola Tesla Airport as part of the agreement. VINCI's offer worth EU 1.5 billion consists of EU 501 million for the concession, an additional annual concession fee ranging between EU 4.5 and 16 million and the pledge to invest a further EU 732 million.

A concession award process of such dimensions requires full-service legal advice as has been offered by CMS in Serbia for many years. "Serbia went to great lengths to select the right operator from all candidates. The award procedure was conducted in a way that satisfied high international quality requirements, which goes to show that the Serbian government easily lives up to European standards in terms of transparency. This has once again strengthened Serbia's standing as a favourable business location and attractive target for investors", says Radivoje Petrikic, partner at CMS in Vienna and head of the CMS team in Belgrade. In addition to CMS Belgrade, Lazard France, Orrick France and KPMG were part of the consortium of advisors.

The CMS team in Belgrade headed by Radivoje Petrikic (partner, corporate law, privatisations) and Maja Stepanovic (partner, corporate law, PPP law) also includes Marija Tesic (partner, corporate law), Nebojsa Pejin (attorney-at-law, tax law), Dragana Jandric (attorney-at-law, real estate), Ljubinka Tubic (attorney-at-law, public procurement law), Jovana Bingulac (attorney-at-law, real estate, regulatory), Anja Tasic (attorney-at-law, competition law), Mihajlo Matkovic (attorney-at-law, public procurement law, regulatory) and Dorde Popovic (partner, infrastructure & projects).