Ferrovial has announced the sale of 8.65% of Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd (HAH), to the Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited (USS) for GBP 392 million. Ferrovial underscores its commitment as main investor and continues to be the industrial partner in HAH.
Ferrovial, currently the indirect owner of 33.65% of Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd. (HAH), has reached an agreement to sell 8.65% of FGP Topco Ltd., the holding company which owns HAH, to the Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited (USS) for GBP 392 million, equivalent to EUR 463 million. The transaction is expected to complete on 24 October 2013 upon the receipt of funds. Ferrovials indirect stake in HAH will be 25% as a result of this transaction.
“This sale of a stake in HAH is a further part of Ferrovials investment diversification strategy. Following this deal, we reiterate our role in HAH as the main shareholder and industrial partner in the long term, said Íñigo Meirás, CEO of Ferrovial.
The transaction brings further enhancement to Ferrovials flexibility to undertake infrastructure and services projects as part of its international expansion strategy.
We are pleased with the addition of a British pension fund to the group of international investors who are already part of Heathrow. Having long-term investors of the quality of the USS will only strengthen Heathrow. HAH now has investors based in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia, including sovereign wealth funds from Qatar, China and Singapore, continued Meirás.
Universities Superannuation Scheme was established in 1975 as the principal defined benefit pension scheme for universities and other higher education institutions in the UK. It has over 300,000 scheme members across nearly 400 institutions and is one of the largest pension schemes in the UK, with total fund assets of approximately £40 billion. The transaction was arranged by USS Investment Management Limited (USSIM), a wholly owned subsidiary of USS and its principal investment manager and advisor, which will manage the investment on USSs behalf.
A consortium including Ferrovial acquired BAA Ltd., now renamed as HAH, in June 2006. HAH owns Heathrow (in London), Glasgow and Aberdeen airports (in Scotland) and Southampton airport (in southern England). In the first six months of 2013, those airports handled 40.2 million passengers.
