(Press Release) Advent International, one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors, today announced that it has agreed to sell Aeropuertos Dominicanos Siglo XXI (“Aerodom”), the leading airport group in the Dominican Republic, to Vinci Airports, the airport operating subsidiary of Vinci SA. Terms of the transaction, which is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2016, were not disclosed.

“We are proud of what we have achieved at Aerodom in partnership with the company’s management team,” said Luis Solórzano, a Managing Director in Advent’s Mexico City office. “Together, we have improved operations and expanded both the commercial and aeronautical sides of the business, resulting in significant revenue and productivity growth. We believe Vinci Airports is the ideal partner for Aerodom as it enters the next stage of its development and wish the company continued success well into the future.”

“The acquisition of Aerodom by of one of the world’s leading airport operators underscores the importance of our company in the Dominican Republic and will allow us to operate at the highest international standards,” said Mónika Infante, CEO of Aerodom. “We thank Advent for its continued support over the past seven years in developing Aerodom into a world-class airport operator.”

Aerodom operates and manages six airports in the Dominican Republic, the most visited tourist destination in the Caribbean with more than 5.1 million tourist arrivals in 2014. Its international airports include Las Américas–José Francisco Peña Gómez in Santo Domingo, the second-largest airport by passenger traffic in the Dominican Republic, Presidente Dr. Joaquín Balaguer in Santo Domingo Norte, Gregorio Luperón in Puerto Plata, María Montez in Barahona and Presidente Juan Bosch in Samaná. Aerodom also operates the Arroyo Barril domestic airport in Samaná. In total, the airport system served 4.3 million passengers in 2014, representing a 4.4% growth in traffic over the prior year.

Advent acquired Aerodom in September 2008 and has since worked with management to improve and grow the business significantly. Among the initiatives, the company formed a new route-development group to increase traffic to its airports and launched an energy cost reduction program, which lowered energy consumption by approximately 20%. Aerodom also repaved and expanded the runway of Las Américas airport, remodeled the Las Américas and Gregorio Luperón terminals and built 17 new hangars. In 2014, Las Américas received the prestigious ACI Airport Service Quality award for “Best Improvement” by an airport in Latin America and the Caribbean.