BAA wins control of airports in the Gulf
A consortium led by BAA, the UK airports operator, has defeated six other groups to win the contest to take control of two airports in Oman in its first move into the Gulf region.
BAA, the world’s leading airport group which includes the three London airports Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, already has management contracts or stakes in 12 airports outside the UK in Australia, Italy, the US and Mauritius.
Oman is privatising two airports, Seeb International, which handles 2.7m passengers a year, and Salalah on the north west coast of the Indian Ocean with 150,000 passengers a year.
The BAA-led consortium will take a 75 per cent stake, with the remaining 25 per cent held by the state. It will be given a 25-year operating concession to develop and manage the airports.
BAA, which is investing around £9m ($13.2m), will hold a 25 per cent stake in the operating company, with 35 per cent held by a local partner, the Suhail Bahwan group, and 15 per cent held by ABB Equity Ventures.
BAA said that its consortium had won preferred bidder status but had not yet completed final contractual negotiations.
The contract will run from next January. Three senior BAA managers will be seconded to the operation.
The consortium is planning to invest £130m to develop facilities at the airports including the construction of a new terminal at Seeb, which should be completed by mid-2006.
The growing wave of airport privatisations around the world is attracting heavy investor interest.
In Oman BAA defeated six rival bids from a French consortium comprising Aeroports de Paris and Vinci, a Danish consortium of Copenhagen Airport and Maersk Air, Alterra Partners (owned by Bechtel and Singapore Changi Airport), Zurich Airport, Vancouver Airport, and Hochtief, the German construction group.
The BAA consortium was advised by Merrill Lynch.
Financial Times
