Citi Gatwick bid fails
13.05.09
A consortium led by Citigroup's infrastructure fund was dropped by BAA from the shortlist of companies in the running to buy Gatwick airport today, leaving just two groups vying g to take over Britain's second-busiest airport. A spokesman for the consortium criticised the decision as ‘bizarre in the extreme.’
Gatwick owner BAA said the bid from the consortium, known as Lysander Gatwick Investment Group and also including Vancouver Airport, was ‘uncompetitive on price and there were no assurances on deliverability.’ Press reports earlier this week had suggested that the Citi led consortium was the lowest bidder, at £1.13bn, with the other two bids both around £1.4bn.
Sources familiar with the matter earlier told Reuters that Lysander had been eliminated from the bidding by airports operator BAA because of concerns about the value of its offer. Calling the decision 'bizarre in the extreme' a spokesman for Lysander said: ‘Our bid is the only one fully funded and will deliver the airport's promised capital expenditure.'
The two remaining bidders are Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), the fund that owns London City Airport (reported to be BAA's preferred choice); and a team made up of Manchester Airport Group (MAG), Canada's Borealis and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund. BAA said it was ‘progressing discussions’ with remaining bidders.
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