Macquarie returns to 3 mid-sized UK airports; what does it say about privatisation in Europe today?

Back in the day, when the Macquarie Group was an investor in airports across the world to a greater degree than it is now, it held equity in both Birmingham and Bristol airports in the UK. But it surrendered ownership at Bristol to the Canadian pension fund OTPP (Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan), and at Birmingham to a different investor.

Things have a way of coming around.

Now it is trying to buy back interest in both those airports from OTPP, as well as at London City Airport, where OTPP is also an investor. The Canadian fund will probably be able to find richer pickings at home, as airports there are made available for investment to those home-based funds, should they take up the option.

While some method can be ascertained for OTPP, it isn't really the case for Macquarie Group and its various funds. If and when the deal is concluded (and London City is close), Macquarie would be taking on two regional English airports where growth has been quite strong in the past couple of years, but where each airport has diverse problems to deal with. In Birmingham's case that includes its municipal part-owner having gone bust, and finding itself under the control of central government commissioners.

But it is London City that asks the most questions. While it has made a great deal of money for the owner on each of the three occasions it has been sold, the panoply of difficulties it faces from both local and municipal governments, from alternative airports that are connected by a new rail line that doesn't even stop there, and from an enormous debt pile of loans that have to be refinanced in nine months' time, could be overwhelming for a new investor.