Aena, the listed Spanish airport operator, established its first euro medium-term note programme in 2023. By doing so it became the first fixed-income issuer to be admitted to trading in accordance with Spain’s new securities law.
Ignacio Castejón, finance director at Aena, says the EMTN programme was one of the main pillars of the financing strategy approved by the board in 2023. Aena has structural and regular financing needs in order to manage and develop the 46 airports and two heliports it operates in Spain. Internationally Aena also operates Luton airport in the UK and has an interest in companies that manage airports in Mexico, Jamaica, Colombia and Brazil.
Therefore, the company felt an EMTN programme was an efficient tool to diversify funding sources from commercial bank loans, borrowing from the European Investment Bank and Instituto de Crédito Oficial, Spain’s national development bank.
“Our aim is to become a recurrent issuer in the bond market because we have recurring capex, especially with the expansion of Madrid airport and other potential growth opportunities,” says Castejón. “We want to become a well-known name to fixed-income investors.”
Our cost of debt for 2023 is going to be around 2.2 per cent, which is really low, so I am pretty satisfied with our financing strategy
In July last year, Aena registered its €3bn EMTN programme with Spain’s National Securities Market Commission, or CNMV. Subsequently, on October 6 Aena raised €500mn through its first bond. Aena does not have a specific roadmap for further issuance in terms of timing or amounts, but Castejón says the firm will analyse its debt maturity profile, cashflow generation, capital expenditure needs, growth opportunities and market situation.
“Our cost of debt for 2023 is going to be around 2.2 per cent, which is really low, so I am pretty satisfied with our financing strategy,” he says.
Before the bond issue, a new Capital Markets and Investment Services Law came into force in Spain on September 18. As a result, Aena’s bond became the first admitted under these new rules to AIAF, the regulated fixed-income segment of Bolsas y Mercados Españoles, the Spanish financial market infrastructure, which is owned by Switzerland’s SIX Group.
Castejón explains that it was important to choose a listing venue that could meet Aena’s aims of agility and responsiveness, and also provide a safe regulatory environment. The EMTN process began last June. CNMV approved the prospectus before summer and Castejón describes the subsequent process as very quick and smooth.
"We listed the bond in record time," he says as the listing and verification of the bond was done by BME rather than CNMV, which made the process much quicker.
Aena’s seven-year bond had a coupon of 4.25 per cent and was led by BBVA and BNP Paribas as arrangers. In addition, the group of dealers was comprised of Bankinter, Banco Sabadell, CaixaBank, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, IMI-Intesa Sanpaolo, Mediobanca, Santander, SMBC Bank EU and Société Générale.
BBVA and BNP Paribas are close to Aena, understand the firm’s business and credit profile, and have a solid track record in EMTN programmes, says Castejón. More than 180 investors attended the bond roadshow and he describes the reception as “really warm”. Demand reached more than five times the final issue size.
Castejón says: “We chose the arrangers and dealers following an objective and strict request for proposal as we took several criteria into account, including financial support to the company, meaningful experience, leadership in the euro corporate bond market and finally, their environmental, social and governance commitment.”
He adds that ESG and climate action are part of Aena’s strategic plan and vital for the company and, where possible, it will try to increase the share of sustainable finance.
“We have been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the first time, which is a very important milestone, and Aena is the fourth most sustainable company for transport and transport infrastructure worldwide according to the index,” he says.
Aena reported net profit for the first nine months of 2023 of €1.1bn, compared with €664.7mn in the same period in 2022. Total passenger traffic was 240mn, 17.4 per cent more than in the same period a year earlier. Castejón says Aena has been surprised with the speed of recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic given that traffic in 2023 was ahead of 2019. By 2026 Aena expects traffic to reach around 300mn passengers per year.
“Last year was a record one which has been very positive and surprising news,” adds Castejón. “We are confident about the strength of our assets and moderately optimistic on future traffic.”
