Tocumen International Airport is issuing tender documents for three separate 700sq m duty free areas in the second half of January next year, almost a year earlier than anticipated.

 

Incumbents Motta International – with its Attenza Duty Free retail concept – and Grupo Wisa with its Riviera Duty Free brand, hold 10-year contracts at the Panamanian airport, which are due to expire in December 2017.

 

However, the airport says that the tender is being called early ‘because of the situation of Grupo Wisa’.

 

As was highly publicised, in May this year the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it had brought sanctions to bear against Panama’s Waked Group and Grupo Wisa for alleged money laundering (along with other affiliated companies).

 

NEW TENDER

Regarding the new tender, there are three ‘blocks’ of duty free space at 700sq m each, of which a retailer can bid for a maximum of two areas.

 

“A company can bid for more than one space; two maximum,” the airport operator tells TRBusiness. “There will be two winners. One company will have one space and the other will have two.”

 

 

The length of this contract will match the previous contract’s 10 year term [starting in 2017] and will operate according to a Minimum Annual Guarantee (MAG) model. An ‘upfront amount’ will also be required, which will be deducted from the monthly payments.

 

DUFRY, DFA, DFASS AND HEINEMANN

Several international retailers have shown interest in the bid so far including, Dufry, DFA, DFASS and Heinemann, according to the airport operator.

 

“We are looking for operators with experience in multiple airports around the world,” adds Tocumen International Airport.

 

A contract award date is yet to be released.

 

The airport is currently undergoing a massive expansion project with the construction of the new Terminal 2, with a projected completion time of 2017. Architect firm Foster + Partners was appointed for the project in 2011 and construction actually began in 2013.