Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which owns Manchester, Bournemouth, East Midlands and Humberside Airports is looking to expand its portfolio of commercial properties and takeover another UK airport.
MAG is owned by ten metropolitan borough councils, with Manchester City Council owning 55 per cent and Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, City of Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan all owning 5.0 per cent each.
According to the BBC, MAG hasn’t declared which airport they are interested in as of yet – but as both Edinburgh and Stansted airports have recently been put up for sale, speculation is angled towards one or other of them. These two airports are currently owned by BAA, but after the Competition Commission ruled that the group must sell both Stansted and Gatwick, as well as one of its Scottish airports, the group have decided to put the commercial properties up for sale.
Speaking of the decision to ensure fair competition across UK airports, Christopher Clarke, Chairman of the BAA Airports investigation, stated: “We have decided that the only way to address comprehensively the detriment to passengers and airlines from the complete absence of competition between BAA’s south-east airports and between Edinburgh and Glasgow is to require BAA to sell both Gatwick and Stansted as well as either Edinburgh or Glasgow.
“We recognise that in using our powers in this way, we will have a significant impact on BAA’s business. However, given the nature and scale of the competition problems we have found, we do not consider that alternative measures, such as the sale.”
In a statement regarding the airport takeover, the ten Councils stated: “Following a strategic review of the group’s performance and future prospects, MAG is pursuing two key recommendations: one to explore the opportunity to add another quality airport to the group and the other, to bring in new equity investment as part of the deal. Both of these recommendations are interdependent and one will not happen without the other.
“MAG is already a key driver of jobs and growth in the North of England, but these proposals would allow the group to strengthen this position – and deliver maximum value for the local authority shareholders.”
The four airports in MAG’s portfolio already serve approximately 23.9 million passengers per annum, supports hundreds of thousands of jobs and generates over £3 billion to the UK economy every year. Speaking of their success, MAG states on their website: “We’re more just a regional success story. As the largest British-owned airport operator, we play a major role in UK aviation, contributing £3.2 billion to the UK economy and supporting over 130,000 jobs. According to independent analysis by York Aviation, our businesses could grow still further to generate £6.3 billion in value and support 260,000 jobs by 2015.”
Previous Post
Gloomy Start to 2012 for UK Commercial Property Markets
