Gatwick sold by BAA

BAA has agreed to sell Gatwick to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) for £1.51bn.

GIP, an infrastructure fund that owns London City Airport, was competing against Manchester Airport Group (MAG) for Gatwick earlier this year and at one stage appeared to pull out of the process after a £1.36bn bid was rejected.

At that stage MAG, part of a consortium with Canadian fund Borealis and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund, was seen as the front runner in the bid process.

But it pulled out in July after refusing to meet BAA’s asking price of £1.5bn – £100m more than the consortium was prepared to pay.

BAA launched the sale process in September 2008 before it was ordered by the competition authorities to sell Gatwick, Stansted and either Edinburgh or Glasgow. BAA is appealing against the ruling but MAG is understood to be interested in one of the Scottish sites.

The sale of Gatwick is due to be completed in December subject to approval by the European Union.