BELGRADE (Serbia), October 2 (SeeNews) - Serbia's government said on Monday it is extending the deadline for submitting binding offers in a tender for awarding a 25-year concession contract for operating Belgrade Nikola Tesla international airport to November 23 from October 23.

The decision was attributed to the extension of the deadline for the drafting of the concession contract by the Serbian government to October 23, the government said in a notice published in local Politika daily.

The Serbian government had initially set September 4 deadline for submitting binding offers. In August, the deadline was extended to October 23 due to the complexity of the documents the qualified bidders have to analyse prior to submitting their offers.

Serbian media reported in June that four consortia and one company were expected to place binding bids in the tender.

The four consortia were: France's Meridiam Eastern Europe Investments, Switzerland's Zurich Airport AG and France's Eiffage; India's GMR Infrastructure Limited and Greece's Terna; South Korea's Incheon International Airport Corporation, Turkey's Yatirimlar ve isletme and Russia's VTB Capital Infrastructure; China's Hainan Air Travel Service, HNA and China National Aero Technology.

French company Vinci Airports was expected to compete as a lone bidder, according to media reports.

The Serbian government owns 83.1% of Aerodrom Nikola Tesla, the operator of Belgrade airport. The company's net profit dropped to 3.2 billion dinars ($31.5 milion/26.9 million euro) in 2016, from 3.3 billion dinars in the previous year.

(1 euro = 119.171 dinars)