Blue skies ahead for BAA as Gatwick sale is set to take off
GLOBAL Infrastructure Partners (GIP) could snap up Gatwick as early as tomorrow, after months of talks.
Airport owner BAA, which is disposing of the London hub after a ruling from the Competition Commission (CC), is thrashing out the final details of the sale with GIP, including the price tag.
BAA, which is owned by Spanish group Ferrovial, had wanted £1.6bn for the airport – the regulated asset base benchmark placed on Gatwick by the Civil Aviation Authority – and talks with interested buyers fell apart when the cost could not be agreed. But the two parties were last night understood to mulling a £1.5bn sale.
The news comes as BAA challenges a ruling from the CC, forcing it to sell off some of its assets. The hearing is not expected to affect the sale talks.
GIP, a fund backed by US company General Electric, had been bidding against a consortium led by Manchester Airport Group and Borealis, the Canadian infrastructure fund.
A spokesman for BAA last night said that it was “still talking to multiple parties and no deadline was agreed.”