La vente des aéroports

Source : The Economist

A, l’occasion de la vente de Gatwick à Vinci

Un extrait

Finance and economics
Airport buy-outs
Barbarians at the departure gate
Investors’ appetite for transport infrastructure remains undiminished

The acquisition cements Vinci’s position as the world’s largest private airport-operator, with Gatwick the biggest of the 46 it runs. It is also a reminder of how fast the industry has been privatised: over 50% of European airports have some private participation, up from 22% in 2010. Nearly half of winning bidders since 2008 have been financial investors, according to Mergermarket, a research group. Returns have been juicy. gip bought Gatwick for £1.5bn in 2009; it and its co-investors have made twice that by selling half of the airport, and earned £1.5bn in dividends in the interim.

The previous owners, including Global Infrastructure Partners (gip), an American fund manager, will keep 49.99%