“The AEP continues to monitor the progress of this issue, which is following the normal legal procedures, and is fully committed to finding a solution, with a strategy entirely aligned with the Matosinhos City Council,” stated the Chairman of the Board of Directors of AEP and Exponor to Lusa.
In a written response sent to Lusa, Luís Miguel Ribeiro mentioned that the association is currently “working” on a plan that “envisions the exhibition park continuing to be an asset of AEP, not only in its operation but also potentially in ownership.”
Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) announced on Monday that it is marketing the assets of Nexponor, a real estate fund to which AEP transferred Exponor and its respective lands in 2013 as part of the association’s financial restructuring plan.
At the time, under the leadership of José António Barros, AEP “cleared” most of its bank debt by transferring Exponor to this fund, in a transaction where bank credits were converted into participation units, with the association holding a lease contract to operate the park.
When questioned by Lusa about whether the association would formally present a purchase proposal for Exponor to C&W — the proposal submission period ends on November 20 — Luís Miguel Ribeiro did not clarify.
“What is certain is that we will always be an active part,” he emphasized.
According to the association’s leader, potential stakeholders in the business “will find AEP an asset for the development of the planned project, whose main anchor is the Exponor exhibition park.”
“Currently, the asset is on the market. For now, we have to await the process’s progression,” he noted.
Emphasizing that the process “will not compromise the fair schedule and the normal functioning of Exponor,” Luís Miguel Ribeiro is confident that “companies and the country will continue to have an indispensable infrastructure for promoting the enhancement of national companies’ offerings and strengthening the internationalization of the Portuguese economy.”
Besides the pavilions, congress center, service building, and parking lot that make up Exponor, Nexponor’s assets include two lots of land for real estate development, totaling an area of 180,000 square meters in Leça da Palmeira, Matosinhos.
In April 2024, the Matosinhos City Council approved a Preliminary Information Request (PIP) for a mega project on those projects, which, in addition to modernizing Exponor, envisions a mixed-use development (services, commerce, tourism, and housing) with an above-ground gross construction area of 177,000 square meters.
