Spain's Ferrovial is in talks with more than one bidder for London's Gatwick airport and expects to close the sale in the next few weeks, its chairman said today, bringing to a close a year-long sale process.
Gatwick, controlled by Ferrovial's British airports operator BAA, is London's second busiest airport and could fetch up to €1.8 billion.
"We're in advanced talks with more than one interested party and if things pan out as hoped we expect a sale in the next few weeks," chairman Rafael del Pino told journalists after a shareholders meeting, during which investors approved a merger with its toll-road subsidiary Cintra.
Separately, banking sources in London said infrastructure fund Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) had received a £1.1 billion loan to back the possible acquisition of Gatwick.
BAA put Gatwick up for sale last year, just before Britain's Competition Commission ordered its sale and that of two other of its British airports due to antitrust concerns.
Yesterday, the first day of a three-day appeal of the commission's decision, BAA alleged that one of the members of the inquiry had links to one of the Gatwick bidders.
However, the competition watchdog said in a document sent to reporters today that it would argue that the airport operator knew of the links from the beginning of the 2007 inquiry and therefore has waived its right to object.
At 1340 GMT, Ferrovial's shares were down 1.26 per cent at €33.78, while Cintra shares had fallen 1.19 per cent to €8.30 compared with a 0.46 per cent fall on Spain's leading share index.
The Cintra merger that Ferrovial shareholders approved in their meeting would create an infrastructure conglomerate with combined assets worth €48.2 billion.
It would also give Ferrovial access to Cintra's much-coveted cash.
"The merger will allow increased cash flow and better access to capital markets," Ferrovial chairman Rafael del Pino told shareholders.
The deal would carried out through a share swap of four Cintra shares for each Ferrovial share and the new company is expected to begin trading in early December.
The deal faces opposition from minority shareholders in Cintra, who will vote on the merger on Thursday.
Ferrovial shareholders also approved the appointment of Inigo Meiras as new chief executive to replace Joaquin Ayuso, who will remain with the company as non-executive deputy chairman.
Speaking to the press in his new role of chief executive, Mr Meiras confirmed that BAA's property company APP Lynton is up for sale but declined to talk about valuations or timeframes for any deal.