Link Securities | Aena (AENA) made its debut in the debt market on Friday with a seven-year issue of €500 million on 9 October 2023.
The bond issuance programme (EMTN) will help Aena to amortise its debt, as part of its strategy to reduce the cost of its liabilities, especially after the increase in the average rate it has paid in half a year, from 1.04% to 1.99%. It will also serve to lengthen the maturity of its liabilities, albeit slightly, as the average maturity of its debt stood at 6.7 years on 30 June, with a commitment of €268 million for 2H2023 and €1,746 million for 2024.
Another aspect refers to the opening towards new financing formulas, given the tendency of most companies to reduce their dependence on traditional banking and public entities (EIB and ICO in the case of AENA). The resources will be earmarked for “general issues”, as stated in the issue prospectus, although AENA’s real intention is to provide itself with financial muscle -with this instrument and others to be analysed- for the investments it will carry out in the planning of the Airport Regulation Document2027-2031 (Dora III), whose main exponent will be the expansion of Barajas, assessed at €2,400 million.
