VINCI Airports, a top 5 global player in the international airport sector with a network of 46 airports in 12 countries, signed an agreement to acquire from current shareholders an effective 50.01% stake in Gatwick Airport Limited, a freehold property airport.
The transaction is expected to complete in the first half of 2019. The other 49.99% will be managed by Global Infrastructure Partners. The consideration payable for the 50.01% stake is approximately GBP2.9 billion, subject to closing adjustments.
In the year ended 31 March 2018, Gatwick Airport Group reported total revenue of GBP 764.2 million, with EBITDA of GBP 411.2 million. After the closing, VINCI Airports will be able to fully consolidate the Gatwick Airport.
London Gatwick Airport is the second largest airport in the UK. LGW is part of the largest O&D market in the world – London. The airports in the London system handled over 170 million passenger journeys in 2017. LGW is strategically located to the south of London as its second largest airport, handles over 46 million passengers per annum and serves 228 destinations in 74 countries. It has strong relationships with some leading airlines including EasyJet and British Airways, whilst building new relationships with carriers such as China Eastern.
London Gatwick Airport is the most efficient airport in the world LGW operates the busiest single runway in the world. In 2017, it hit a world record of 950 flights in a day.
Nicolas Notebaert, Chief Executive Officer of VINCI Concessions and President of VINCI Airports: “Creating synergies and sharing best practices being at the core of our values, the whole VINCI Airports network will benefit from Gatwick Airport’s world-class management and operational excellence, which has allowed it to deliver strong and steady growth in a very constrained environment. As Gatwick’s new industrial partner, VINCI Airports will support and encourage growth of traffic, operational efficiency and leverage its international expertise in the development of commercial activities to further improve passenger satisfaction and experience.”
Gatwick’s Chairman Sir David Higgins said, “We very much welcome this commitment from VINCI Airports to Gatwick which is a vote of confidence in Gatwick and its future potential.”
Chief Executive, Stewart Wingate said, “Our Chairman and I, along with our senior management team, will all remain at Gatwick and look forward to improving services further for our passengers. There will be no changes to the immediate running of Gatwick and we expect the transaction to complete by the middle of next year.
“This is good news for the airport as it will mean both continuity but also a further investment for passengers over the coming years to improve our services further. We currently fly to over 220 destinations around the world and are ambitious to do even more in the years ahead.
“Now we are through the recent disruption at the airport and services are fully back to normal I would once again like to express my thanks to passengers for their patience during this challenging period.
“I would also like to thank all those who have supported my teams in getting Gatwick back up and running, particularly our airlines, the police, the armed forces, other airports, the CAA and the Department for Transport.
“I know this unprecedented criminal activity caused huge inconvenience to thousands of people – many of whom missed important family events in the run-up to Christmas. We have appreciated the understanding and tolerance shown at what was a really challenging time for everyone, and we are grateful that passengers recognized that we should never do anything that might jeopardize their safety.
“There are obviously wider strategic lessons for everyone involved to prevent it happening again, and Gatwick itself has taken a number of important steps in recent days which will make a significant difference to the airport’s resilience.
“While today’s announcement marks an exciting moment in Gatwick’s future, my team and I remain focussed on doing everything we can to help ensure that travel runs as smoothly as possible for everyone over the rest of the festive period.”
VINCI Airports manages the development and operations of 45 airports located in France, Portugal (including the hub of Lisbon), United-Kingdom, Sweden, Serbia, Cambodia, Japan, United States of America, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Chile and Brazil. Served by more than 250 airlines, VINCI Airports’ network handled over 180 million passengers in 2017.
