Tzaneen International, a Chinese group of investors, has provisionally won the auction for Spain's Ciudad Real airport with a €10,000 offer.
The auction did not have minimum price although according to sources it is likely that it won't be awarded at that bid level.
Interested parties have until 14 September 2015 to submit a new offer due to the fact that the current offer is lower than the 70% of the estimated transaction value, €28 million.
For the Chinese group, the deal would be the first stage in a process of development of a logistic hub in the area, which would be focused on the Chinese market. The group has plans to invest about €100 million to develop the airport.
The facilities includes a 2.6 million m² terminal and a single runway, 4,000 m long and 60 m wide, capable of serving national and international commercial flights. The passenger terminal has capacity to handle a maximum of ten million passengers a year, and its cargo facilities a maximum of 47,000 tonnes a year. The deal does not include the land surrounding the airport.
The facilities are located 200 km far from Madrid adjacent to the A-41 motorway.
The total project investment was €1.1 billion (US$1.19 billion). Construction of the airport was heavily funded by the Caja Castilla La Mancha savings bank, the first of Spain's troubled savings banks to be bailed out, in 2010.
In April 2012, the airport was closed after just three years in operation, its management company having gone into receivership.
Ciudad Real, a city of around 75,000 residents located halfway between Madrid and Cordoba, attracts few visitors and the airport was designed to serve both the Spanish capital and the Andalusian coast which are both less than an hour away by high-speed rail.