Bidders Overpaying for Brazil Airports Means Losers Are Winners

Some of the world’s biggest airport operators came away empty-handed after Brazil auctioned licenses to run three of its busiest hubs. With the concessions fetching five times the minimum bid, their caution may have been wise.

Brazilian contractors teamed up with companies in Argentina, France and South Africa to bid 24.5 billion reais ($14 billion) yesterday for leases to Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos international airport and two other facilities. The auction marked an about-face for President Dilma Rousseff’s Workers’ Party, which abandoned its opposition to private investment in the country’s airports as Brazil struggles to upgrade aging terminals in time for the 2014 World Cup.