Canadian pension fund circles Gatwick as deal nears
A Canadian pension fund is preparing a bid for a stake in Gatwick Airport which could be worth £3bn, Sky News reports.
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is reportedly part of a consortium in talks to buy out Global Infrastructure Partners, Gatwick’s largest shareholder, in a deal that could be valued at £3bn.
Sky reports that a deal could be finalised within weeks.
Read more: Gatwick Airport publishes proposals to use emergency runway
Global Infrastructure Partners holds a 42 per cent stake in Gatwick but is expected to retain a management contract even after it sells all or most of its stake.
Other shareholders in the airport include the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the National Pension Service of Korea, the Future Fund of Australia and the California Public Employee Retirement System.
Gatwick published plans this week to use its standby runway to boost capacity.
This follows a decision by the government to build a new runway at Heathrow Airport, despite a lengthy self-promotion campaign by Gatwick
Gatwick chief executive Stewart Wingate said: “From using new technologies on our main runway, to the innovative proposal to bring our existing standby runway into routine use, our draft master plan offers agile, productive and low-impact ways of unlocking much-needed new capacity and increased resilience from within our existing infrastructure.”
Campaign group Communities Against Gatwick Noise and Emissions slammed the proposed sale and the plans to open another runway.
Read more: Gatwick Airport owner Global Infrastructure Partners mulling £10bn sale
“This is not good news for communities of Sussex, Surrey and Kent, as it means we face another overseas investor that simply seeks to profit by blighting communities further with growth of aircraft movements which would seem to beautifully coincide with the Gatwick master plan of three runways in West Sussex – revenue before the welfare of residents to profit shareholders, it stinks!”
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Global Infrastructure Partners were contacted for comment.