BAA confirms Ferrovial rejection

UK airports operator BAA continued its defence against Spanish firm Ferrovial today by telling shareholders its £8.75bn (€12.7bn) takeover offer “cannot be taken seriously”.

BAA was responding to last night’s announcement from Ferrovial that it had posted its takeover offer document to BAA investors.

BAA will write to shareholders to explain its own position within 14 days, but in the meantime chairman Marcus Agius said investors should take no action in respect of the offer from the Ferrovial-led group.

He said: “The Ferrovial consortium’s offer cannot be taken seriously. It is no more than a tactical manoeuvre and our shareholders should have nothing to do with it.”

It is the third time that BAA has publicly rejected the Ferrovial offer proposals, which it said priced the Heathrow and Gatwick owner at a level which "bears no relation to the true value of the company".

Ferrovial, an infrastructure group which also owns UK company Amey, recently tabled its offer in order to beat a Takeover Panel deadline and buy more time for its attempts to engage the BAA board in talks. It denied its move represented a hostile approach for BAA.