TBI takes control of Britain's Luton Airport in $118 million deal
TBI PLC, the British airport operator, has agreed to pay up to $118.6 million to acquire Barclays Bank’s 65% stake in Luton Airport, 30 miles north of London.
The final size of TBI’s stake depends on whether Bechtel Corp., the U.S. engineering group that owns 10% of the airport, exercises its option to buy some of the shares held by two Barclays private equity funds, increasing its stake to 28.6%.
The deal, announced Wednesday, will give TBI control of a fifth British regional airport as well as Orlando Sanford International in Florida and Skavsta Airport south of Stockholm. Luton has more than tripled its passenger traffic to 5.5 million in the past five years thanks to the growth of easyJet, a low-cost, no-frills carrier, but it has struggled to build its cargo business.
The Luton acquisition is the latest in a series of deals involving British regional airports, which are benefiting from increasing congestion at major hubs like London Heathrow. Last week Manchester Airport paid National Express, a U.K. transport group $350 million for Bournemouth Airport and East Midlands Airport, a fast-growing cargo and express hub.
