The resources from the US$550 million bonds placement by the Century XXI Dominican Airports (Aerodom), were used to repay in full the debt owed to the Bank of Nova Scotia, some US$234 million, and to carry out a return of capital paid by the shareholders of the company to the tune of some US$333 million, Aerodom reported at a Senate hearing yesterday, Wednesday 25 September, as reported in Diario Libre.
In a document delivered to the Senate Defense and National Security commission, Aerodom says that the money was paid to the company’s shareholders because “no contractual commitment with the state existed at this time for the shareholders to make new investments and with the objective of reestablishing part of the capital contributions that they have made.”
The document stresses that Aerodom had not made any cash disbursals to its shareholders since the start of the concession 13 years ago, as all earnings that were retained had been used “on the complete fulfillment of the contractual obligations of investments.”
The company executives, represented by Monika Infante Henriquez, asked the commission chaired by Senator Adriano Sanchez Roa for 15 working days “in order to formally present a paper that explains the transaction in detail, as well as all documentation showing the legality of the issue, including legal opinions and technical consultations on the operation.”
Aerodom added that it did not receive a reply to a letter sent to the Minister of Public Works, in his role as president ex-officio of the Airport Commission, in which he was told that the company was in the process of preparing a private bond emission for as much as US$600 million.
“As a result, with the conviction that Aerodom does not require any previous authorization from any government entity in order to take on financial commitments, as long as they are not guaranteed by the assets of the concession, they went ahead with the private bond emission,” concluded the company.