Saudi state and French private equity take stake in Heathrow
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Heathrow’s largest shareholder, Ferrovial, has offloaded its stake in two separate deals with French private equity outfit Ardian and the Saudi public investment fund.
Ardian will take 15 per cent of Heathrow and the Saudis 10.
The deal will net Ferrovial around £2.4bn, according to analyst measures, and marks the end of 17 years of involvement for the Spanish giant.
In that time Heathrow has shot to the top of the global airport traffic rankings and then battled through the pandemic, with the airport now at loggerheads with airlines and the regulator over passenger fees.
The offloading had been expected but analysts were impressed with a toppy price.
“For a fully regulated asset the price should be well received,” a note from Jefferies this morning read.
Luke Bugeja, Ferrovial’s airport director, said today that “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 £12 billion 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 is maintaining its stake in other UK airports including Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton.
The firm’s shares, which are dual-listed in Madrid and Amsterdam, rose on the news.
Heathrow has recently hired a new CEO as the airport seeks to turn the page on the pandemic.
Danish boss Thomas Woldybe, formerly the main man at Copenhagen Airport, has stepped into the role occupied for many years by John Holland-Kaye.
He joined just as the airport edged past pre-pandemic passenger numbers.
Over seven million passengers passed through the UK’s biggest hub in September, up 22 per cent year-on-year and ahead of its 2019 equivalent.
That took the total traffic for the year to date to just over 59m, which is currently up nearly a third on 2022 – when the airport was struggling to get back to its best following the lows of Covid-19.