p17 City jan23 20/1/09 18:06 Page 17
ttglive.com
city & finance news
Lithuanian airline
Gatwick bidders fail to hit £2bn
collapses as £800k
Chris Gray.
.
c
om
takeover plan fails
BAA’s sale of Gatwick is facing fresh doubt after
none of the six bidders offered to pay the airport
iStockphoto
operator’s asking price.
LITHUANIAN airline FlyLAL, which flew between Ferrovial, which owns BAA, indicated £2bn as
Gatwick and Vilnius, collapsed this week after a an acceptable price, but when the deadline for
deal with a Swiss investment fund fell through. bids closed on Monday, none of the prospective
The airline said SCH Swiss Capital Holdings buyers were thought to have matched the price.
did not complete a takeover plan, which would The bidders are thought to include Manchester
have involved payments of £800,000 to clear the Airports Group, German infrastructure firm
carriers’ debts. Hochtief AirPort, the Lysander Gatwick Invest-
“Market conditions, record high oil prices and ment Group consortium, the Gatwick Future
low demand for winter season flights were the Partnership consortium, London City airport The six bids for Gatwick have fallen short of BAA’s price tag
main reasons,” the airline said. owner Global Infrastructure Partners, and an-
It will file for bankruptcy if no proposals for other consortium including private equity firm 3i. for BAA is to demonstrate that selling Gatwick at
future airline development are received. The highest bid is thought to be about £1.8bn, an acceptable price will be difficult,” he said.
The collapse left 30,000 people needing to raising the prospect that BAA will argue a sale at McNeill said the economic conditions were the
change travel plans and 360 staff face redundancy. an acceptable price is not possible. “worst possible” for selling an asset like Gatwick,
Abta said the failure again highlighted BAA decided to start the sale before it was because any deal would need a large amount of
the gaps in financial protection for airline expected to be ordered to do so in a Competition debt financing.
passengers. A spokeswoman said customers who Commission report due in March, and Douglas It was rumoured that BAA had made debt
booked through an operator or bought scheduled McNeill, transport analyst at Blue Oar Securities, financing available to prospective buyers but on
airline failure insurance would get their money said BAA could also stop the process. less than attractive terms, which depressed the
back, but others would not because the airline “BAA does not have to sell Gatwick yet. There value of offers bidders were prepared to make.
was unable to provide refunds. is perhaps a suspicion that part of the exercise BAA refused to comment.
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23.01.2009 17
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