Ardian plans to take up to one third of Heathrow's equity - entente cordiale or pride before a fall?

The French private equity firm Ardian, previously part of AXA, mainly took aim at mid-sized and small (usually full service) airports in Europe, from around 2010 (as a division of AXA until 2013).

But then its trajectory changed altogether in late 2023, when it acquired a 15% stake in FGP TopCo, the holding company for Heathrow Airports Holding - the company which operates London Heathrow Airport, Europe's busiest, and provisionally the world's fifth busiest in 2024.

That stake was later revised downwards a little, but Ardian has since moved to acquire further equity to a total of 22.2%, and as this report is written it is in the throes of a bid to acquire a further 10% still. That would take it to a holding of almost one third - unprecedented in Heathrow's 'privatised' history.

In the meantime, the original lead bidder when BAA plc was a listed company and operating Heathrow as one of seven UK airports - Grupo Ferrovial - has almost exited altogether, and indeed may do just that before long.

Ardian is very much the focal point of Heathrow's leadership now, and is inadvertently at the forefront of an extension of the entente cordial between France and the UK.

And there are no UK groups operating any French airports, never mind Paris Charles de Gaulle, France's equivalent of Heathrow.

But Ardian faces some turbulent seas as it sets out on a huge investment package that will include the recently 're-sanctioned' third runway, with the airlines waiting in the wings to savage it for imposing charges they do not consider to be justified.