Some 65 parties have shown interested in Prague Airport, which will be privatized in a tender, Czech Transport Minister Ales Rebicek was quoted as saying by Austrian daily Wirtschaftsblatt.
"With Prague being the only significant airport in the region to be privatized in 2008 and 2009, I expect a big international tender," Rebicek was quoted as saying. "So far we have already 65 parties who said they were interested."
Earlier in June, the Czech government approved a plan to sell Prague Airport in a tender that will be the biggest privatization deal of its tenure.
Prague Airport has benefited from fast economic growth in the country and region as well as the emergence of budget airlines, and expects to see further growth.
Rebicek said the successful investor would not be chosen for purely financial reasons since the airport needed a strategic partner.
"This could for example be the owner of a relatively far-away airport, maybe in Europe, though it would be even better if its was someone from Canada, the United States, Asia or Australia," he said.
Asked if he could imagine Vienna airport operator Flughafen Wien as an investor, Rebicek said he could not rule it out, though the price was key. "But I don't believe that an interested party from nearby will pay the highest price," he said.
A number of airport companies have expressed interest in Prague Airport including Flughafen Wien, Germany's Fraport, France's Aeroport de Paris, as well as Czech private equity groups PPF Investments, Penta Investments and J&T.
