OREANDA-NEWS. Fraport Acquires U.S.-based Airmall Group That Oversees Retailing Space at Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland and Pittsburgh Airports 04.08.2014ANR 36/2014FRA/rap - Effective August 1, the Fraport Group has expanded its international portfolio in the global airport market by acquiring 100 percent of U.S.-based AMU Holdings Inc., which owns Airmall USA Holdings Inc. (Airmall). One of the leading airport-concessions developers in North America, Airmall markets space at the aviation hubs of Baltimore (BWI), Boston (BOS), Cleveland (CLE) and Pittsburgh (PIT). Together, these four hubs serve a total of about 70 million passengers per year. Airmall currently oversees about 34,000 square meters (366,000 square feet) of space in the passenger terminals at the four airports - with about 270 retail and food and beverage outlets operated by international, national, regional and local tenants.

Fraport AG's executive board chairman Dr. Stefan Schulte welcomed the acquisition deal: "The retailing business at our Frankfurt home-base has always been a growth engine and we have repeated this success story consistently over the years at our other Group airports worldwide. With the acquisition of Airmall, we have established a promising platform for developing our U.S. business in the future."

Dr. Matthias Zieschang, Fraport AG's executive board member for finance (CFO), as well as acquisitions and investments, explained: "On the one hand, Airmall has developed a solid business at the four U.S. airports, whereby investing makes good business sense. On the other hand, Airmall will give us a presence at these four airports for further expanding our brand reputation in the U.S. market." This will give Fraport the right prerequisites for further growth on the continent and in other parts of the world.

Airmall's headquarters will remain at Pittsburgh's international airport. The addition of Airmall in the Fraport global portfolio will help provide new two-way synergistic benefits -- a win-win business relationship. Both Airmall and Fraport are dedicated to enhancing the passenger experience at airports. Thanks to its successful concessions model in North America, Airmall has one of the highest per-passenger spends on the continent.

Furthermore, Airmall offers substantial expertise in the U.S. marketplace and industry leadership as an innovator. For example, the company was honored in the 2013 ARN Best Airports and Concessionaires Awards (by Airport Revenue News) for best practices in concessions design, customer service, unique services, and overall concessions programs. The craft brew pubs at Airmall's CLE and BWI airport malls were recently recognized in GQ Magazine's 2014 America's Best Airport Beer Bars ranking.