The Serbian Government has decided to select French consultancy company Lazard Freres SAS as transaction advisor in the Nikola Tesla Airport privatization project.

The Serbian Ministry for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure selected french-based Lazard as the preferred bidder after the company submitted a proposal with a fixed compensation of EUR1.27 million (US$1.43 million) and a success-based fee of EUR3.22 million (US$3,63 million) after the successful completion of the privatization process.

The agreement is expected to be signed early next week.

The scope of the services to be provided by Lazard also comprises consulting about whether to fully privatize the airport or put it up for concession. The Servian government initially expected to sell the airport for about €500 million (US$565 million).

According to sources, in November 2014, the Serbian government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Vinci for the development of the project. However, the initiative seems like it did not progress.