French private equity firm Ardian is buying a 15% stake in Heathrow from Ferrovial and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (which also owns Newcastle United Football Club) is taking the other 10%.
Heathrow’s other major shareholders are the Qatar Investment Authority (20%) and Singapore’s GIC sovereign wealth fund (11.2%) and the Australian Retirement Trust (also 11.2%).
Ferrovial took control of Heathrow Airport in 2006 but reduced its then 56% shareholding to 25% 10 years ago.
According to analysis by Alistair Osborne, the chief business commentator of The Times, the sale indicates that Ferrovial has given up hope of the long-planned third runway being built at Heathrow. “If Ferrovial thought there was a realistic prospecr of the juicy construction contracts and related management fees that come with a mega-project, it wouldn’t be selling,” he wrote.
Since 2012 Ferrovial’s construction business has been paid £600m by Heathrow plus a half share of the £750m to its joint venture with Laing O’Rourke, Osborne noted.
Luke Bugeja, chief executive of Ferrovial Airports, said: “Over the last 17 years, we have been contributing to Heathrow’s transformation, together with our fellow shareholders, achieving some excellent milestones throughout our long-term role as investor. These include overseeing an investment of £12bn pounds, expanding its capacity with the construction of Terminal 2, and improving its operational performance. We are very pleased to have made Heathrow one of the world’s most connected airports and the busiest airport in Europe.”
Ferrovial still holds a 50% share in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports in the United Kingdom, a 60% in Dalaman Airport in Turkey and 49% in JFK Airport New Terminal One in New York, USA.
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