The operating firm behind Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Southampton airports in the UK is changing hands in a deal worth over £1.5 billion (€1.8 billion).
AGS Airports had been jointly owned by Spanish infrastructure multinational Ferrovial and Australian financier Macquarie, but is now being acquired by Canadian-owned and German-headquartered airport management firm, AviAlliance. The £1.5 billion price tag is comprised of £900 million (€1.08 billion) for the operations and £653 million (€782 million) in debts AviAlliance will have to take on.
Added-value from infrastructure investments
In fact, the total AviAlliance is paying to acquire AGS’s three hubs is considerably more than the £1.05 billion (€1.26 billion) that Ferrovial and Macquarie paid in 2014. Ferrovial has already estimated its capital gains from the sale at €290 million on its 50% stake.
But added value comes from £250 million (€300 million) the previous owners say they invested across the three airports. Those works included a 50% expansion of Aberdeen International’s terminal space, and a runway extension at Southampton. Commenting on the deal, Martin Bradley, Macquarie’s regional head of infrastructure, said: “Following this decade of investment, we are pleased to be passing the baton to AviAlliance to unlock the next phase of growth.”
Macquarie Asset Management (Macquarie), via Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 4, and Ferrovial have reached an agreement to sell AGS Airports to AviAlliance, one of the world’s leading private airport investors and operators.
— Southampton Airport ✈️ (@SOU_Airport) November 13, 2024
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Who is AviAlliance?
So, if and when regulatory approval goes through, which is expected to be early in 2025, the three airports’ more than 10.8 million yearly passengers will be in the hands of a new-to-them operator. But AviAlliance is not new-to-the-business. It currently already runs three European airports in Athens, Düsseldorf and Hamburg, as well as San Juan airport in Puerto Rico.
In a press release, AviAlliance described the purchase as a “major investment in the UK aviation sector”. Explaining the commercial rationale behind the buy, they said, “These airports serve large and growing regions of the United Kingdom, significantly contributing to their local economies. Operating within the attractive British air travel market, AGS Airports benefit from strong fundamentals and a continued demand for business and leisure travel, which is expected to drive growth in domestic and international passenger traffic.”
3 airports, 8 ports, and 4,000 trains all in the same hands
Promising continued development for the airports, AviAlliance says it “will leverage its extensive global airport expertise to responsibly develop AGS Airports, enhancing air connectivity, improve the passenger experience, and support local communities.”
Interestingly, the Canadian owner of AviAlliance, PSP, already has a firm footing in the UK’s transport sector, with a majority stake not only in 8 UK ports, but also in Angel Trains, the UK’s biggest rolling stock firm who own and maintain over 4,000 trains, a third of the country’s supply. PSP are now effectively set to add 3 significant regional UK airports to their portfolio, if the sale goes through.
