BAA to announce successful Gatwick bidder shortly

www.gatwickairport.com

Airports operator BAA announced that the deadline for submitting bids on Gatwick Airport was 1400 GMT on Monday, and that it was likely a winning bid would be announced in a few days.

The airport was put up for sale late last year by Spanish construction company Ferrovial, BAA’s owner, in order to meet requirements put forth by the UK Competition Commission.

Industry analysts have said that the offers are not likely to be a premium on the 1.6 billion pounds regulated value of the airport, due to the continuing decline in demand for air travel and tight credit.

A spokesman for BAA confirmed that bids were due by 1400 GMT on Monday, noting: “The process will be far from finished — even once we’ve got all the bids. It’ll probably be days, if not weeks, before we are in a position to make an announcement to say here’s the winning bid.”

The three likely bidders for the airport are expected to be Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a General Electric and Credit Suisse consortium that owns London City Airport; Lysander Gatwick Investment Group, which comprises Citi Infrastructure Partners, the John Hancock Life Insurance Company and Vancouver Airport Services; and the Manchester Airports Group, Borealis and Greater Manchester Pension Fund consortium.

None of the three likely bidders was available for comment on the status of their bids.

Thanks to www.guardian.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.gatwickairport.com