Infratil sells second UK airport for £1
INFRATIL has sold its second airport in a week, after yesterday announcing a deal worth £1 ($1.91) plus adjustments for the 296-hectare Manston Airport in England.
The transaction would ultimately be worth about £350,000 ($670,000) to the Wellington-based infrastructure investor, slightly less than the value of a neighbouring four-bedroom home in Kent.
Earlier this year Infratil had valued Manston Kent and its other British airport, Prestwick in Scotland, at a combined $21.2 millio.
Yesterday’s deal included a cash consideration of £1 plus an adjustment for working capital variances and cash injected by Infratil between October 14 and the completion of the transaction, expected to be about £350,000.
Infratil said it would sell the airport, based in Kent, to Lothian Shelf, an entity owned by Scottish multimillionaire Ann Gloag.
This came less than a week after Infratil announced the proposed sale of Prestwick airport to the Scottish Government.
Manston Airport’s buyer Gloag co-founded Stagecoach Group, the UK-listed public transport operator, with her brother, Brian Souter. Souter, who still owns bus and ferry companies in New Zealand, sold New Zealand Bus to Infratil in 2005.
In 2009 Infratil sold its stake in Fullers Ferries to Souter Holdings for $40 million.
Manston Airport includes 269 hectares of land, and features a single level terminal capable of handling up to 700,000 passengers a year.
Next to the airport a one-acre, four-bedroom house for sale had an asking price of £399,995.
The listing described the property as a ‘‘beautifully designed family home’’ which offered ‘‘plenty of space inside and out’’.
Yesterday’s £1 sale price follows years of Infratil devaluing both its UK airports, and it first made its intention to sell clear in March last year.
The listed-company has been open about its sale plans for the two sites as it refocuses its investment portfolio.
Earlier this year Infratil had written down the value of the airports by $53m, following a $26m write-down during the 2012 financial year. The two airports had had a $101m book value as recently as 2011.
Infratil said it now expected to impair these assets by about £11m ($21.01m) in its half-year financial statements to September 30.
An analyst last week suggested Infratil might receive only a ‘‘token gesture’’ for the sale of its Glasgow airport, which 13 years ago was valued at more than Wellington-based infrastructure investor Infratil has sold a 296 hectare airport for slightly less than the value of a four-bedroom house. $100m. A price had not yet been announced for the 356 hectare airport.
Infratil chief executive Marko Bogoievski said it was pleased to have found a buyer with a vision for Manston Airport’s future development.
The airport was a small part of the company’s overall asset base, the company said, and its sale would result in a more focused portfolio and improve the company’s future cash flow position.
Gloag said she was ‘‘delighted’’ to have bought the UK airport which had potential for growth that had not been fully captured.
"Having worked in the transport industry for over 30 years, I believe I am very well placed to help maximise opportunities for both freight and passengers at Manston," she said.
The completion and settlement of the Manston Airport deal would occur on November 29. The Prestwick sale would go ahead on November 20.
In 2009 Infratil sold its stake in another European airport asset it had purchased in 2005.
A 90 per cent share in the problematic Lubeck Airport near Hamburg was sold back to the City of Lubeck at a break-even price of $64 million.
Infratil cited falling traveller numbers as the recession hurt Britain and western and northern Europe.