Aberdeen International Airport could soon be under Spanish ownership after infrastructure giant Ferrovial tabled a bid for the Dyce terminal.
A City source claimed yesterday that the firm had offered Heathrow Airport Holdings – formerly known as BAA – £800million for Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton airports.
Ferrovial has declined to comment on the report – but is believed to be waiting in the wings to snap up the site.
It first emerged in October that the airport could get a new owner as a result of talks among investors in its parent.
Shareholders of Heathrow Airport Holdings (HAH), which also owns Heathrow, Glasgow and Southampton airports, were said to be mulling over the future of the Aberdeen operation.
Ferrovial, which holds a 25% stake in HAH, has been on the hunt to strengthen its airport business as it seeks to diversify further from its crisis-hit domestic construction business.
But its partners in the HAH consortium – Britannia Airport Partners, Singapore’s GIC, Qatar Holding and Alinda Capital Partners – are looking to focus on Heathrow, Britain’s busiest airport, and divest the holding’s other airports.
Ferrovial bought Heathrow and a number of other UK airports as part of its acquisition of BAA in 2006 for £10.3billion in a highly leveraged deal, but has gradually sold stakes to new partners.
Analysts said an £800million price for the deal implied a multiple of 13 times the three airports’ estimated 2013 earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation.
Aberdeen International Airport (AIA) recently followed a record-breaking year in 2013 with a ninth consecutive month of growth in its passenger figures.
The gateway was used by 251,400 people last month, a 9.8% increase on January 2013.
Both helicopter and fixed-wing passenger numbers grew, by 17.8% and 8.5% respectively.
It comes after the busiest year in the airport’s history, with last year’s total of more than 3.48million users surpassing 2007’s previous best of 3.43million.
It is also understood to have been approached by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), the firm that owns London’s Gatwick and City airports, as well as Edinburgh Airport.
A spokeswoman for Aberdeen International Airport declined to comment on the interest.