Belfast City airport sold to venture capitalist firm 3i

George Best Belfast City Airport has been bought by venture capital company 3i.

The London-listed company has agreed to acquire a portfolio of assets from the EISER Global Infrastructure Fund which includes the city airport, which was first opened in March 1938.

No financial details relating to the deal have been disclosed yet and it will have to receive approval from the European Commission before it can go through.

But the price tag for Belfast City Airport alone has been estimated at about £100 million (€117 million) – it fetched £132.5 million (€156 million) when it was sold by its previous owner, Ferrovial, in 2008.

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It had paid £43 million (€50.6 million) for the airport when it acquired it from the Canadian aerospace group Bombardier in 2003.

The venture capital group, 3i, said it intends to establish a new £700 million (€824 million) fund to finance the initial transaction and follow-on investments relating to its latest portfolio acquisition.

It has highlighted that the acquisition will extend 3i’s infrastructure activities.

Passenger numbers

But local management at Belfast City Airport, which reported a 5.4 per cent growth in passenger numbers in 2015 to 2.7 million, have not officially commented on it.

Earlier this year the airport also confirmed it had hit record annual international passenger numbers of 200,977.

As part of the portfolio acquisition, 3i has also purchased the ESP Utilities Group which includes the second largest independent gas transporter and the third largest independent electricity network operator in the UK.

It will also acquire a stake in Herambiente – an Italian waste treatment and disposal company – as well as an interest in four companies in Spain: two of which operate shadow toll roads and two operate Madrid bus terminal interchanges.

This article was corrected on December 23rd.