PLMJ advises on the airport concession to Vinci

PLMJ has advised the State of Cape Verde throughout the concession process for the country’s public airport service, which began in December 2019 and was completed this week with the handover of all the country’s airports and aerodromes to Cabo Verde Airports, the concessionaire company formed by Vinci Airports and Ana Aeroportos de Portugal.

The concession for Cape Verde’s public airport service was awarded to Vinci for the next 40 years and represents a cash inflow of €900 million for the Cape Verdean state. PLMJ was at the side of the Cape Verdean state from the outset, advising on the procedure for awarding the concession, drafting the concession contract, the negotiation process and, after the contract was signed, fulfilling the conditions precedent to the start of the concession.

PLMJ’s multidisciplinary team was led by Diogo Duarte Campos, partner and head of the public law practice, and Carla F. Machado, an associate who heads the practice, and also included Catarina Paulino Alves, an associate from the public law practice. The Corporate M&A team included partner Inês Pinto da Costa and Saul Fonseca, consultant.

In July 2022, Vinci was chosen by the State of Cape Verde to operate the concession and over the last year the period has been spent fulfilling all the conditions precedent to the effective start of the concession, in the various technical, contractual, regulatory, legislative and financing components of the operation, which were monitored by PLMJ.