A group of Canada’s largest pension funds is making a push to buy up to three U.K. airports after Britain’s Competition Commissioner ordered BAA PLC to sell three of its seven facilities, reports the Globe and Mail.
BAA PLC—the world’s biggest airport operator—is partly owned by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, and is now looking at the unsavoury prospect of selling the airports during an economic downturn.
Gatwick airport is being bid on by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Borealis, the infrastructure arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, reports the Globe. The consortiums that fail to acquire Gatwick will likely pursue the two other BAA airports that go up for sale. No investor can own more than one of the three airports to be sold.
BAA also owns Heathrow, Stansted and Southampton in England, as well as facilities in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen in Scotland. The Competition Commissioner has given BAA two years to find buyers for Gatwick, Stansted and either Edinburgh or Glasgow.
BAA was purchased in 2006 by Spanish infrastructure behemoth Grupo Ferrovial SA (which owns 56%), the Caisse (26%) and the Singapore government’s GIC fund (18%) for £10.3-billion, according to the Globe. BAA’s holdings prompted a probe by Britain’s Office of Fair Trading, resulting in a decision by the Competition Commission to have BAA broken up. The official order was made last week.
The Globe reports that seven groups are interested in buying Gatwick, three of which have Canadian content.
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