China Everbright Group, a state-backed financial firm, has bought into Albania's international airport in partnership with a Hong Kong-based investment firm, the latest deal highlighting China's ambition to rebuild Silk Road trade links with Europe and Asia.
Beijing has estimated its much-hyped "One Belt, One Road" initiative will add $2.5 trillion to China's trade over 10 years and Chinese firms are increasingly lending their support with aggressive investment in overseas infrastructure projects.
China Everbright Ltd, a unit of the group, said it would acquire the airport's developer and operator, Tirana International Airport, taking over the concession until 2025.
Passenger numbers at the airport jumped to 2 million in 2015, up from 600,000 ten years earlier, making it one of Europe's fastest growing airports, it said in a statement.
The concession can also be extended by two years if the Albanian government approves.
It will complete the deal through a venture with Friedmann Pacific Asset Management Ltd, which specialises in aviation and airport-related projects.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. A spokesman for China Everbright Ltd said it owns 75 percent of the venture with Friedman Pacific holding the rest. He added that China Everbright will continue to look at opportunities to acquire quality assets in Europe.
Friedmann Pacific, which manages about HK$15 billion ($1.9 billion), was part of a consortium that agreed in December to buy a 49.99 percent stake in France's Toulouse Blagnac airport.
Recent overseas infrastructure deals made by Chinese firms include the 67 percent stake purchase of Greece's Piraeus Port by China Cosco Shipping Corporation.
China Everbright Group, a state-backed financial firm, has bought into Albania's international airport in partnership with a Hong Kong-based investment firm, the latest deal highlighting China's ambition to rebuild Silk Road trade links with Europe and Asia.
