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Dubai Aerospace, which has bid $2.6 billion for Auckland Airport, is also eyeing a bid for BAA's Gatwick Airport.
Sources close to Dubai Aerospace told the Times that the company would consider a bid if BAA made Gatwick available. DAE last month launched a $3.80 per share offer for as much as 60 per cent of Auckland Airport. Another potential suitor, Canada Pension Plan, is expected to make an offer for Auckland soon.
The interest of potential buyers for Gatwick comes two weeks after the Competition Commission said that it was beginning an investigation into whether BAA's monopoly of London airports - Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted - should be broken up.
Fraport, the owners of Frankfurt Airport, said that they would also be interested in buying one of the seven airports operated by the BAA, a unit of Spanish infrastructure and construction company Grupo Ferrovial.
Robert Cullemore, a consultant with Aviation Economics in London, told the Times, "If Ferrovial waits until the commission completes its inquiry, it could be in a situation where it is a forced seller. That will certainly be a concern for them because they will not want to get into a position of being forced to dispose of Gatwick or Stansted."
- NZPA
