BAA puts for sale sign over Edinburgh airport
BAA announced plans yesterday to sell Edinburgh airport, bowing to the UK Competition Commission’s (CC) ruling to sell one of its Scottish airports in order to increase competition.
The decision comes after a two-year battle between BAA and the CC, which in 2009 ruled that BAA, owned by Spanish infrastructure giant Ferrovial, exerted a dominant hold on UK airports and told it to sell Stansted and either Glasgow or Edinburgh airport.
Analysts at the Royal Bank of Scotland said that in choosing to sell Edinburgh, a stronger asset compared to Glasgow, BAA may be opting for a sale that would have a higher chance of being profitable.
The airport operator, which also owns Heathrow, Southampton and Aberdeen, said it plans to agree a sale by the summer 2012.
It is still disputing the watchdog’s final ruling in July requiring it to sell off Stansted. In 2009, the group was pressured to sell Gatwick for £1.5bn.