MAG raises £360m on the bond markets

MANCHESTER Airports Group (MAG) has completed a £360m fundraising with the issue of a 10-year bond.

MAG said it had capitalised on investor interest in its debut bond issue in February when it raised £450m.

The latest issue offers a return of 4.125% compared to the February bond which had a rate of 4.75% over 20 years.

MAG also said passenger numbers were up 4.3% in the year to March across its four airports – Manchester, Stansted, Bournemouth and East Midlands.

East Midlands saw the biggest increase, up 9% to 4.34 million over the year. Manchester was up 4.9%, to 20.7 million passengers and Stansted rose by 2.7% to 17.9 million. Bournemouth slipped 0.2% to 668,337.

Each airport saw numbers decline in March which MAG said was down to the late Easter. Manchester slipped 0.8% to 1.43 million, while Stansted was down 0.3% to 1.34 million.

Chief executive Charlie Cornish said: “The group continues its positive performance and we were delighted by the significant investor demand for the deal. It’s a testament to the strength of MAG and the work that went into our debut bond transaction. It completes the acquisition re-financing element of our strategy and secures a total of £810m of long term funding in the capital markets.”