Buy-out boom returns as €25bn Abertis deal looms
TWO shareholders in the Spanish infrastructure group that owns Cardiff and Belfast International airports will team up with British private equity group CVC to mount a €25bn (£21bn) leveraged buy-out.
The deal for Barcelona-based Abertis would dwarf the largest deal since the financial crisis – a $3.9bn (£2.6bn) bid for Extended Stay Hotels by a private equity consortium.
Abertis’ second-largest shareholder, builder ACS, along with La Caxia, Spain’s biggest savings bank, will attempt to create a buy-out vehicle with CVC. The two shareholders currently own almost 55 per cent of the business. The group’s shares were suspended yesterday after rising sharply on the back of the reports.
Shares in ACS, also surged after the report said the deal valued Abertis, which runs a major Spanish toll highway, along with parking garages and airport concessions, at nearly €2bn more than on paper.
The bid will be financed by an €8bn club loan being pulled together by Italian investment bank Mediobanca.
Criteria, which has 28 per cent of Abertis, would continue as a large shareholder and the bid will not involve delisting Abertis.