Melbourne Airport's owners, IFM and AMP Capital, are among a long list of global infrastructure investors including Macquarie Capital bidding in Japan for the long-term lease on Osaka's main airport.
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The sale of the right to operate Kansai International Airport, which was built on an artificial island in Osaka Bay in the 1990s, for as much as $US18 billion ($23.6 billion) is seen as a test case for plans by the Abe government to privatise large infrastructure assets in Japan.
However, in what has been interpreted as a sign that bidders are uneasy about the price tag, the state-owned company that operates Kansai International Airport has delayed the deadline for bids by three months. New Kansai expects to select the winning bidder in July.
Jetstar Japan – a joint venture between Qantas, Japan Airlines and several other investors – set up a secondary base at the curfew-free airport last year. Its main base is at Tokyo's Narita Airport.
The budget airline also began its first international flights between Osaka's main airport and Hong Kong last month.
The 45-year concession for the airport in Osaka Bay includes the rights for Osaka International Airport, which is closer to Japan's second-largest city and is the preserve of domestic flights.
IFM and AMP Capital are among 20 large investors that have met the requirements as bidders for the long-term lease on the airport.
Apart from Melbourne's Tullamarine, IFM has interests in airports in Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin and Perth. It is also part of a consortium that owns Stansted Airport in Britain.
The Melbourne-based investment group completed its largest deal last week when it paid $US5.7 billion ($7.4 billion) forthe Indiana Toll Road, a motorway in the US.
AMP Capital said it was "potentially interested" in joining a consortium in bidding for the right to operate Kansai International Airport as a provider of subordinated debt.
"We have had discussions with a number of parties and are currently monitoring developments," a spokeswoman said, declining to comment further.
Macquarie Capital, which is also an owner-operator of Copenhagen Airport in Denmark, is the other Australian infrastructure investor to have cleared the first hurdles in the bidding process.
Other interested parties include Singapore's Changi Airport, Spanish multinational Ferrovial, which has an interest in London's Heathrow Airport, and Mitsubishi.
Kansai International Airport's most recent traffic statistics show it had 19.35 million domestic and international passengers last year, up 9 per cent on 2013.
While it has reported significant increases in foreign travellers, the number of Japanese passengers passing through its terminals fell for the second consecutive year in 2014.
The airport – tagged as the international gateway to Kansai province – has gained global attention over the years because the island on which it is built has been sinking into Osaka Bay.
The Abe government's desire to privatise assets is aimed at raising funds to pay down Japan's high public debt.