Buyers Flock To Be First At Gate To Buy Edinburgh Airport

Bidders are lining up to launch takeover offers for Edinburgh Airport, with JP Morgan and the operator of Manchester Airport both understood to be moving closer to making formal bids

Source The Scotsman

Jan. 16, 2012

2 min read

BIDDERS are lining up to launch takeover offers for Edinburgh Airport, with JP Morgan and the operator of Manchester Airport both understood to be moving closer to making formal bids.

US investment banking giant JP Morgan looks likely to enter the race after Scotland on Sunday learned staff from the bank's infrastructure fund will meet today in Edinburgh with potential backers.

Meanwhile, Manchester Airports Group (MAG) - the body which runs the site, which is made up of Manchester's ten local authorities - is believed to be reviewing its business and possibly seeking a private-sector cash injection to fund the takeover of a further airport.

MAG also owns Bournemouth, East Midlands, Manchester and Humberside airports and has been linked to possible bids for Edinburgh or London's Stansted.

BAA, owned by Spanish firm Ferrovial, is being forced to sell sites by the Competition Commission. It sold Gatwick in 2009 to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), the owner of London City airport, and is pressing ahead with the Edinburgh disposal. But BAA is appealing against the commission's ruling that it must sell Stansted.

MAG has approached Canadian infrastructure investor Borealis and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund for backing. The trio lost out in the race for Gatwick in 2009.

Other potential bidders for Edinburgh Airport include private equity firms 3i and the Carlyle Group, plus GIP and Arcus, which last year bought Forth Ports.