us: For instance, Leighton was awarded a three-year contract extension worth EUR 172 million at the Peak Downs coal mine in Queensland. Leighton also continued to expand its business at an international level, for example, in the Gulf in Abu Dhabi, where the Al Habtoor Leighton Group is building the St. Regis Hotel and Residences for just under EUR 345 million.

In the HOCHTIEF Concessions division, following the fall in passenger numbers due to the financial crisis, HOCHTIEF AirPort recorded a return to growth in traffic at several airports in our portfolio in the third quarter of 2009. In the second half of the year, Düsseldorf Airport actually saw a record number of passengers—a great testament to the airport management provided by our company. One of the achievements of HOCHTIEF PPP Solutions in the fiscal year was financial close for a British public-private partnership schools project in Salford as part of a consortium. This means we have effectively secured our first success in the long-term “Building Schools for the Future” UK investment program. The positive trend in our concessions portfolio reflects the successful business: As of December 31, 2009, its net present value stood at EUR 1,596.4 million overall, an increase on the prior-year figure (EUR 1,470.0 million).

During the year under review, we considered the possibility of an initial public offering of HOCHTIEF Concessions AG. In December 2009, however, we decided not to pursue these plans further for the time being, since the capital market environment had deteriorated markedly because of the Dubai crisis and its repercussions in the international capital markets. Under these conditions, an IPO was no longer feasible without restrictions and as such was out of the question for us. Thus we remained true to our claim that we would not, under any circumstances, sell for less than our target value, particularly since all prior analyses had shown that the capital market considers our assets to be of enduring value.