Ferrovial sells 10.62% of BAA to Qatar Holding for GBP478 million

Ferrovial, indirect owner of 49.99% of BAA Ltd. (BAA), has reached an agreement to sell 10.62% of FGP Topco Ltd. (the holding company which owns BAA) to Qatar Holding LLC for 478 million pounds sterling, equivalent to 607 million euro.

As part of the same transaction, Britannia Airport Partners and GIC have also sold to Qatar Holding, in proportion to their holdings in FGP Topco, shares equivalent to 5.63% and 3.75% respectively, making Qatar Holding’s total purchase of shares equal to 20%. These transactions were at the same price per share. The total value of the shares purchased is thus 900 million pounds sterling, or 1.144 billion euros.

Ferrovial’s indirect stake in BAA will be 39.37% as a result of this transaction. Qatar Holding will be a member of the boards of FGP Topco Ltd. and BAA Ltd. Britannia Airport Partners LP, GIC and Alinda continue as shareholders.

The deal is conditional upon obtaining approval from the European Competition authorities, and is expected to be completed before the end of the year.

“The sale of this stake in BAA is part of Ferrovial’s strategy of establishing a market valuation of our assets and improving the structure of our investment portfolio. After this transaction we wish to reaffirm our role as an industrial investor in BAA. We are very pleased to welcome an investor of the quality of Qatar Holding, with whom we will continue to work, together with the existing shareholders, to ensure that Heathrow retains its position as one of the best infrastructure assets in the world,” said Íñigo Meirás, CEO of Ferrovial.

The transaction further strengthens Ferrovial’s liquidity situation, providing it with notable flexibility to undertake investments in infrastructure and services projects.

A consortium including Ferrovial acquired BAA in June 2006. BAA owns Heathrow and Stansted airports (both in London), Glasgow and Aberdeen airports (in Scotland) and Southampton airport (in southern England). In the first six months of 2012, those airports handled 47.4 million passengers. BAA attained 1.270 billion pounds in revenues, an 8% increase in like-for-like terms, while EBITDA amounted to 604 million pounds, a 10.4% increase in like-for-like terms.