abertis agrees to sell London Luton Airport to a consortium headed by Aena

TBI, a company owned by abertis (90%) and Aena Internacional (10%), has agreed to sell the company holding the concession for London Luton Airport to a consortium formed by Aena (51%) and AXA Private Equity (49%). The enterprise value of the transaction is £433Mn (€502Mn).

This asset would have contributed an estimated €141Mn to abertis' revenue and €46Mn to EBITDA at group level in 2013, which represents a 2013 Enterprise Value/EBITDA ratio of 11x.

The transaction, which is subject to authorization by the competition authorities, the contracting authority (Luton Borough Council) and the Spanish Board of Ministers, forms part of abertis' strategy to continually revise its portfolio in order to optimise the company's asset base. AZ Capital and Citi advised abertis on the sale process.

London Luton Airport had been part of abertis' portfolio since 2005, when the company and Aena Internacional purchased the British operator TBI. Last week abertis announced that an agreement had been reached with ADC & HAS Airports Worldwide regarding the sale of Belfast International and Stockholm Skavsta airports, the terminal concessions for Orlando Sanford (Florida) airport and TBI's airport management business in the US for €284Mn in cash.

Last March, abertis agreed to sell Cardiff airport to the Government of Wales for €61Mn.

Following the completion of the deal with Aena and AXA Private Equity for London Luton Airport and the agreement struck last week with ADC & HAS Airports Worldwide, abertis' airport business will be limited to a stake in Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP) in Mexico and the concession for Montego Bay airport in Jamaica. Both assets are held for sale.