London’s Gatwick Airport sold to French conglomerate
FRENCH conglomerate Vinci said on Thursday it had bought control of Gatwick Airport, Britain’s second-busiest, for nearly £3 billion only months before Brexit.
Vinci said it will own a 50.01-per cent stake in Gatwick thanks to the deal worth £2.9 billion by the end of June.
Gatwick made headlines last week when it closed its runway repeatedly due to reports of mystery drone sightings nearby, affecting nearly 140,000 passengers.
The French purchase of Gatwick, which is Europe’s eight-biggest airport and runs the busiest single runway in the world, comes ahead of Britain’s departure from the European Union on March 29.
The proximity of Brexit “probably helped us close the deal”, Nicolas Notebaert, Vinci Airports chief, told a telephone conference.
The absence of a Brexit deal with the EU could cause major air travel problems as both sides would no longer recognise each other’s aviation safety standards.
London and other EU capitals are, however, working on special permissions to allow European carriers to keep flying even if no overall air travel deal is struck by that date.
Vinci is best-known for being one of the world’s biggest construction companies, employing close to 200,000 people across the globe, and for operating motorways in France.
But the company has also been buying up airports – most recently in Brazil, Japan and Serbia – making it “a top 5 global player in the international airport sector”, according to a statement by Gatwick. One of its best-known airports is the hub of Portugal’s capital, Lisbon.
With the latest acquisition, Vinci Airports will control 46 airports in 12 countries with a total traffic of 228 million passengers a year.
Gatwick, which in Britain is second only to Heathrow, will become the biggest airport in Vinci’s portfolio, making the purchase “a major strategic move”, the company said.