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| Gatwick sale: BAA is selling two yeas after it bought at the height of the market |
The upcoming sale of Gatwick Airport in the UK will be an interesting test of the true appetite for infrastructure assets in today’s market. Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial was pushed into selling the airport following August’s Competition Commission ruling that it must divest three of its seven UK airports. In October it mandated HSBC and RBS to act as advisers to the sale along with law firm Freshfields. The chance to get its hands on Gatwick is a rare one for any bidder, and interest in the sale is likely to be ferocious. Indeed, Fraport (which owns Frankfurt airport), Dubai Aerospace, Deutsche Bank’s RREEF infrastructure fund, Virgin Atlantic and EasyJet have all been linked to potential bids for the airport. But more than ever before, the outcome will be determined by one thing: who can raise the finance.
BAA is understood to be looking for £2.5 billion ($3.8 billion) for the airport – and will want to complete the sale before the Competition Commission completes its review and turns it into a forced seller.
