Stansted attracts three final bids of £1bn each
A deal would give its new owner access to Britain’s fourth largest airport, which flew 17.4m passengers last year.
Stansted was not seen as an easy deal to sell because Ryanair accounts for about 70% of the airport’s traffic. The low-cost airline’s combative approach to pricing is expected to drag down the deal’s value well below other recently sold airports such as Gatwick and Edinburgh.
“It’s a miracle they got three bids,” said one source.
“It’s indicative of how difficult it is to invest in quality assets at the moment. The Ryanair risk is not for the fainthearted.”
Stansted, 50km north-east of London, was put up for sale in August after Ferrovial-controlled BAA was forced by Britain’s competition regulator to sell off assets and loosen its grip on the UK market.
Australia’s Macquarie, Malaysia Airports Holdings and Manchester Airports Group with its Australian partner IFM are the final bidders.
“We are hopeful we’ll have a deal next week,” said a source.
& The Manchester group is seen as the frontrunner, given its sector expertise and financial firepower due to its partnership with IFM, which took a 35% stake the operator earlier this year.
Macquarie, which owns Sydney’s airport, also has expertise in buying airports, and Malaysia Airports has the financial firepower, a sector banker said.
“It’s all down to who will put the highest bid,” the banker said.
This banker did not expect Stansted to fetch similar multiples to Edinburgh Airport and Portugal’s ANA, which were recently sold 16 times and 15 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation.
However, some analysts say Stansted could fetch up to £1.3bn. RBC Capital analyst Olivia Peters says Stansted could be sold for 95% of its regulated asset base — around €1.28bn, or around 14.2 times its EBITDA.
Stansted’s owner Heathrow Airport Holdings, Macquarie and MAG declined to comment.
Reuters
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