BAA expected to announce winning Gatwick bid soon - Gatwick Airport News

Airport news for Gatwick on 30/04/2009.

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Spanish infrastructure giant Ferrovial, the owner of BAA, put Gatwick airport up for sale late in 2008, after the UK Competition Commission made clear its intentions to break up BAA’s monopolistic hold on major airports across the UK.

Aviation analysts do not believe that the airport will bring a premium over its $2.33 billion regulated value, due to the continuing decline in demand for air travel and the difficulty for bidder in finding suitable financing.

A spokesman for BAA said that the bidding process ended on Monday at 1400 GMT, when the last submissions would be accepted. "The process will be far from finished -- even once we've got all the bids. It'll probably be days, if not weeks, before we are in a position to make an announcement to say here's the winning bid."

The three groups expected to submit bids include Global Infrastructure Partners, which is a consortium that includes General Electric and Credit Suisse; the Lysander Gatwick Investment Group, comprising Citi Infrastructure Partners, the John Hancock Life Insurance Company and Vancouver Airport Services; and the Manchester Airports Group, including Borealis and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund.

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