Frankfurt-Hahn Airport sold to Chinese construction company

After weeks of speculation swirled about a new buyer, Germany’s Rhineland-Palatinate interior ministry announced today the sale of its majority 82.5 percent stake in Frankfurt-Hahn Airport to Shanghai Yigian Trading Company (SYT), a major Chinese construction company, in a deal valued in the “low-double-digit-million-euro range.” SYT’s chief representative, Zu Tao Chou, professed that he “lost his heart” to the airport.

Chou said Shanghai Yiqian Trading now plans to buy the remaining 17.5 percent stake held by the German state of Hesse. After years of struggling to make the former U.S. Army base profitable – with more than US$18.2 million in losses anticipated this year – the Chinese transportation company plans to increase air cargo links to meet demand for German meat and other consumables that Chinese producers are struggling to produce in sufficient supply.

With the economy entering growth phase that Chinese President Xi Jinping has called, “the new normal,” the country’s firms are looking outward for continued growth, and this week’s acquisition is part of a growing portfolio of transportation and logistics assets. In April, state-backed China Everbright Group acquired partial ownership of Albania’s international airport, while China Cosco Shipping Corporation acquired 67 percent of Greece’s Piraeus Port. Last week China’s HNA Group agreed to buy a stake in Virgin Australia, while moving to acquire a stake in Air France-KLM catering unit Servair.

The deal also concluded months of speculation over the identity of the buyer, with some sources naming other suitors such as the Henan Civil Aviation Development and Investment Co. (HCNA) as recently as last Friday. Amazon was also regarded as a frontrunner in the bidding.

Below: A 747-800 arrives at  Frankfurt-Hahn Airport for the first time