French company Vinci acquires 50.01 per cent of Gatwick airport

When drones were spotted hovering around Gatwick airport in the week before Christmas, it was not only flights that were delayed — the airport’s owners had to put the sale of a majority stake in the business on hold too.

On Thursday, a week later than planned, French infrastructure company Vinci announced that it had paid £2.9bn for 50.01 per cent of Gatwick.

Existing shareholders, which include private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, sold down half of their stakes. Even disregarding the drone chaos, the sale, which had been discussed for more than a year, comes at a turbulent moment for UK airports, as their plans to build new runways butt up against the uncertain economic effects of Brexit. Gatwick will become Vinci’s largest airport by far, increasing the group’s passenger numbers by about a quarter and adding revenue of £764m.

Financial Times