The Aena IPO is up in the air as company officials wait for the Spanish government to approve the deal during a Council of Ministers meeting before the end of the year. The idea is to take advantage of generally favorable market conditions in the spring, and if the deal does not happen before November 2014, there won't be another ideal time.
To execute the IPO before summer, Aena needs to move quickly. There are fears that although the Ministry of Public Works favors the deal, it will not be easy to get approval from the Ministry of Finance and the Economic Office at Moncloa.
Neither Montoro nor Nadal oppose privatizing part of Loterías -- a deal similar to the Aena process -- when they were not the party in command. Independent of their past positions (one trait common to politicians is defending an argument and its counter-argument depending on whether you are in power or not), the Ministry of Finance has to figure out what to do with the money that it makes.
It is estimated that Aena will end up with 2.4 billion euros after paying off 12 billion euros in debt. Some people are asking that Aena distribute revenues from the deal to shareholders in some sort of dividend.
The Catalonian government is asking for the money that corresponds to the El Prat airport in Barcelona. This request makes no sense because both the company and infrastructure belong to the national government. This is not the only roadblock for a deal that could end up privatizing at least 60% of the company.
This percentage comes from expected investor interest that the market can bear. Obviously, the market does want to see a strategic public company go private. The government should make it happen -- and soon. If the Aena IPO does not take place in 2014, it will probably never happen.