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Property brokerage

Real estate activity (property brokerage) is currently regulated by the following diplomas:

i) Portuguese Law no. 15/2013 of February 8th

ii) Portuguese Decree no. 199/2013 of May 31th

iii) Portuguese Regulation no. 16/2014

In the normal exercise of its activity, the brokerage firm must assure, among others, the following formalities:

• In public attendance places, the property brokerage firms should be identified by presenting their complete corporate name, license number and the validity period of the latter.
• In all external activity (contracts, publications, mail, advertisement, etc…), the firm should present their name and their license number.
• The firm’s legal representatives should identify themselves through identification cards provided and issued by IMPIC (Institute of Public Markets, Real Estate and Construction), presenting them in all their interventions.

1 – The brokerage firm is also obliged to:

a) Make sure that, in the moment of the conclusion of the mediation contract, all of their clients have the capacity and legitimacy to contract in the business they’ll promote;

b) Make sure of the correspondence between the characteristics of the property object of the mediation contract and those provided by the clients;

c) Suggest to the recipients the businesses for which you are in charge, using the highest degree of accuracy and transparency about the characteristics, price and terms of payment of the property, so not to mislead them;

d) Communicate the recipients immediatly of any event that can compromise closing the deal.

2 – The brokerage firm is expressly forbidden to:

a) Receive compensation from both clients and recipients on the same trade;

b) Intervene as an interested party in any trade regarding a property included in the mediation contract of which they are a part of;

c) Enter into a property brokerage contract when the circumstances allow for, reasonable, doubt of the admissibility of the trade, whose promotion is suggested;

d) Proceed to the property evaluation of the properties object of the mediation, as well as all the properties inserted in the portfolions of property brokerages with which he/she maintains any relationship of dominance or group or those that present themselves in the market under the same commercial brand.

Property brokerage| www.fa-legalonline.com

Third Round of Airport Concessions in Brazil

In a ceremony in the Planalto Palace (the official workplace of Brazil’s President) held in mid-2015, the Presidency of the Republic announced the launch of the Investment in Logistics Plan 2015-2018. This plan included the concession of the international airports in Brazil, namely Fortaleza, Salvador, Porto Alegre and Florianópolis, which together dealt with 27.6 million passengers in 2014.

Thanks to the concession of these airports, whose bidding will happen in the first semester of 2016, the Government estimates investments throughout the contract, through for example passenger terminals renovation or patio and runaway extensions,   of around 7 billion Brazilian reals (1,739,990 USD) .

From that round, operators of already privatised airports can have up to 15% participation in the consortium, if the airports are in the same region. Thus, the group that buys the airport in Porto Alegre can’t fully take the Florianópolis one.

As opposed to previous disputes, when Infraero (the Brazilian Company for Airport Infrastructures) kept the 49% participation in all consortiums, the government will stay out of the process and won’t even have a golden share, which would guarantee them veto power in strategical decisions.

The feasibility studies of concessions were referred by the National Agency of Civil Aviation (ANAC) to the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) in December 2015 for the purpose of analysis and suggestions.

The minimum bid for the four airports was established at 3 billion Brazilian Reals (742,830,000,000 USD), numbers that can still be altered, depending on the considerations presented by the TCU. As in previous auctions, the winner is the one who bids higher for each airport.

In face of the necessary government’s cash, the auction winners should anticipate 25% of the granting value already in the day of the contract signature. In the previous rounds, the adopted rule was the payment of annual instalments, throughout the contract period.

One of the consortium members must necessarily  be a foreign entry (minimal participation 15%),  with enough experience to manage 10 million passengers per year.

Except for the airport in Porto Alegre (25 years), the term of the concession will be 30 years.

Sources Brazil: O Globo (a daily newspaper), Valor Econômico (a financial newspaper) and  Infraero’s website

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