- Agreement with Global Infrastructure Partnership
- The deal is conditional upon authorisation by the European competition authorities and completion of a period of public consultation at the instances of the UK Competition Commission.
- The divestment will reduce BAA's net debt and strengthen its financial position.
- Gatwick ranks second among the UK's airports. It was used by 34.2 million passengers in 2008.
Madrid, 21 October 2009. UK airport operator BAA, which is a subsidiary of Ferrovial, has reached an agreement to sell Gatwick airport in London to an entity controlled by Global Infrastructure Partnership. The sale price is 1.510 billion pounds sterling (approximately 1.657 billion euro). Of that amount, 1.455 billion pounds will be collected in cash and the other 55 million pounds will be subject to attainment of certain operating and financial targets. The deal is conditional upon approval by the European competition authorities and on completion of the 15-day public consultation process at the instances of the UK Competition Commission, to which the buyers' commitments regarding future transactions with the asset will be submitted. The transaction is expected to be completed on 3 December 2009.
The sale will enable BAA to reduce its net debt and strengthen its financial position. It will have a negative impact of 142 million euro (estimate as of this date) on Ferrovial's consolidated bottom line as of 30 June 2009.
Gatwick ranks second among UK airports in terms of traffic and is the busiest single-runway airport in the world. In 2008, it handled 34.2 million passengers and 171,000 tonnes of air cargo. The airport directly employs 23,000 people, close to 2,500 of them employed by London Gatwick Airport.
The agreement with Global Infrastructure Partnership completes the sale process that commenced in September 2008, before the end of the Competition Commission's UK airports market investigation. After divesting Gatwick, BAA will own six airports in the UK (Heathrow, Stansted, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Southampton) and one in Italy (Naples).
The seven airports together handled 117.2 million passengers last year.
For more information about Gatwick airport:
www.gatwickairport.com
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