Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 Announces Completion of Exchange Offer and Issuance of New Notes

By: Corporación América Airports S.A. via Business Wire

November 05, 2021 at 08:01 AM EDT

Corporación América Airports S.A. (NYSE: CAAP), (“CAAP”), the largest private sector airport operator in the world by number of airports, announced today that Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 (the “Company” or “AA2000”), a subsidiary of CAAP, has consummated a series of transactions, strengthening the Company’s liquidity and achieving a sustainable debt profile that provide financial flexibility to continue modernizing its airport network in Argentina.

In September 2021, AA2000 successfully issued a $30.5 million dollar-linked bond in the local market, at an annual interest rate of 4% and a 2-year maturity. The offering was expanded from an original amount of $10 million and has a local credit risk rating of A(Arg) by FIX SCR Argentina.

In October 2021, the Company announced an offer to exchange its international bonds, originally issued in February 2017 and later exchanged in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic. In summary, the Company has recently completed the following transactions:

A new issuance of 8.5% Series 2021 Notes due in 2031 (extending from 2027 before), issued pursuant the exchange offer and with a 4-year grace period. The Series 2021 Notes will have an enhanced collateral package, which includes an offshore reserve account, and a second lien on revenues from the cargo terminal. The transaction closed on October 28, 2021 with a 66.83% and 24.61% participation from holders of the Series 2020 and Series 2017 Notes, respectively.
On November 1, 2021, the Company raised $126 million of new money in two tranches: i) $64 million in additional Series 2021 Notes, which are fungible with the bonds issued pursuant to the exchange offer, and ii) $62 million in new Senior Secured Notes due 2028. The latter have a 3-year grace period, quarterly amortization starting February 2025, and a final payment in November 2028.
Simultaneously, AA2000 refinanced bank loans, extending the final maturity of these loans until November 2024 (currently in February 2023), with a 15-month grace period.

With the completion of the foregoing transactions, the Company has:

Strengthen its liquidity, achieving a sustainable debt profile
Extended maturity of its existing international bond transaction until 2031 (from 2027 before) with a grace period of 4 years at an interest rate of 8.5%, demonstrating financial discipline
Issued new notes for a total of $126 million in two tranches
Refinanced bank loans with a 1-year grace period and final maturing in 2024

During 2020 and 2021, the Company's operations were impacted by the COVID19 pandemic and air travel bans established by the government to contain the spread of the virus.

Following the lifting of travel restrictions on international traffic and the opening of borders to non-resident foreigners starting November 1, 2021, we expect better passenger dynamics, an increase in flights and destinations already announced by the airlines, and higher tourism activity, heading into the summer season.

About Corporación América Airports

Corporación América Airports acquires, develops and operates airport concessions. The Company is the largest private airport operator in the world based on the number of airports and the tenth largest based on passenger traffic. Currently, the Company operates 52 airports in 7 countries across Latin America and Europe (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Armenia and Italy). In 2019, Corporación América Airports served 84.2 million passengers. The Company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange where it trades under the ticker “CAAP”. For more information, visit http://investors.corporacionamericaairports.com

Forward Looking Statements

Statements relating to our future plans, projections, events or prospects are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts and can be identified by terms such as “believes,” “continue,” “could,” “potential,” “remain,” “will,” “would” or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Many factors could cause our actual activities or results to differ materially from the activities and results anticipated in forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: the Covid-19 impact, delays or unexpected casualties related to construction under our investment plan and master plans, our ability to generate or obtain the requisite capital to fully develop and operate our airports, general economic, political, demographic and business conditions in the geographic markets we serve, decreases in passenger traffic, changes in the fees we may charge under our concession agreements, inflation, depreciation and devaluation of the AR$, EUR, BRL, UYU, AMD or the PEN against the U.S. dollar, the early termination, revocation or failure to renew or extend any of our concession agreements, the right of the Argentine Government to buy out the AA2000 Concession Agreement, changes in our investment commitments or our ability to meet our obligations thereunder, existing and future governmental regulations, natural disaster-related losses which may not be fully insurable, terrorism in the international markets we serve, epidemics, pandemics and other public health crises and changes in interest rates or foreign exchange rates. The Company encourages you to review the ‘Cautionary Statement’ and the ‘Risk Factor’ sections of our annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2019 and any of CAAP’s other applicable filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for additional information concerning factors that could cause those differences.