UPDATE 1-Serbia picks five bidders for Belgrade airport concession

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BELGRADE, June 21 (Reuters) - Four consortia and one company will proceed the next round of bidding for a 25-year concession to operate Belgrade's Nikola Tesla airport AERO.BEL , the biggest in the Balkan region, the company and a Serbian government commission said on Wednesday.

Serbia, which has an 83.1 percent stake in the airport, expects the deal to be worth around 400 million euros ($446 million).

The only company to have a non-binding bid accepted was France's Vinci Airports, according to a statement posted on Belgrade airport's website.

The consortia are France's Meridiam Eastern Europe Investments, Zurich Airport AG and France's Eiffage FOUG.PA ; India's GMR Infrastructure Limited GMRI.NS and Greece's Terna; South Korea's Incheon International Airport Corp. IIACO.UL , Turkey's Yatirimlar ve isletme and Russia's VTB Capital Infrastructure; China's Hainan Air Travel Service, HNA and China National Aero Technology CATIE.UL , the statement said.

The government repeatedly extended an initial March deadline to give bidders more time to complete their offers. statement said a total of 27 consortia and companies offered non-binding bids. "The public body (government and airport management) has accepted the evaluation of the team of experts and recognised qualified bidders," it added.

Nikola Tesla airport's net profit increased by 21 percent in the first four months of 2017 to 831.7 million Serbian dinars ($7.6 million).

Under the terms of the offer, prospective bidders must not have more than a 20 percent stake in another airport within 450 kilometres of Nikola Tesla, which handled more than 1 million passengers in 2016.

($1 = 109.1000 Serbian dinars)

($1 = 0.8973 euros)