Belfast City Airport sold by EISER Finance Ltd to 3i Investments plc along with other assets
George Best Belfast City Airport has been sold as part of a package of UK and European assets. The owners are EISER Finance Ltd, which took control of ABN AMRO Global Infrastructure Fund. They paid £132.5 million for the airport in 2008 from former Spanish owners Ferrovial Group. Ferrovial had paid £35m for the airport in 2003. EISER is selling the assets to 3i funds, managed by 3i Investments plc. It’s understood the sale will have no impact on the day-to-day running of the airport. EISER has spent around £20m on improvements to the airport over the last eight years. As well as George Best Belfast City Airport, the deal also includes gas transporter and electricity network East Surrey Pipelines. EISER Global Infrastructure Fund (EGIF) is also selling assets in Italy and Spain to 3i as part of the deal, which is worth hundreds millions of pounds. Reports earlier this year suggested that 3i could pay as much as €600m (£509.5m) for the package. The proposed sale was first revealed in the Belfast Telegraph in April but has only now been finalised. The number of departure seats which the airport can sell in a year is currently capped at two million. In its accounts for 2015, the airport reported operating profits, before exceptional items, of £3.3m, up from £2.4m.
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Belfast City Airport sold to investment group in multi-million pound deal
By Margaret Canning (Belfast Telegraph)
23/12/2016
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George Best Belfast City Airport has been sold as part of a package of UK and European assets. EISER Finance Ltd is selling the assets to 3i funds, managed by 3i Investments plc.
It’s understood the sale will have no impact on the day-to-day running of the airport.
There was no comment from the airport on the deal. But it’s understood management are hoping for investment from its new owners – with improvements to its car park top of the list.
EISER bought the airport for £132.5m in 2008, and is thought to have spent around £20m on improvements to the airport over the last eight years.
As well as George Best Belfast City Airport, the deal also includes gas transporter and electricity network East Surrey Pipelines.
EISER Global Infrastructure Fund (EGIF) is also selling assets in Italy and Spain to 3i as part of the deal, which is worth hundreds millions of pounds.
Reports earlier this year suggested that 3i could pay as much as €600m (£509.5m) for the package. The proposed sale was first revealed in the Belfast Telegraph in April but has only now been finalised. Economist John Simpson described the sale of the airport as an “investor decision” by its one-time owners. And he said he believed the performance of the airport may have disappointed EISER.
“They did expect it to increase its turnover and profit a little bit more if restrictions on the City Airport were lifted – but of course, that hasn’t happened.”
The number of departure seats which the airport can sell in a year is currently capped at two million.
In its accounts for 2015, the airport reported operating profits, before exceptional items, of £3.3m, up from £2.4m. Revenue was up around 5% to £20.8m.
This week, the airport was coping with the Christmas rush of passengers, with around 10,000 people expected to come and go every day this week. Speaking earlier this week, airport commercial and marketing manager, Katy Best, said 2016 had been a “successful” year.
Developments included a new three-times weekly link to Reykjavik with Icelandair, starting in June. It also announced a new ski route to Salzburg, Austria in November.
EISER took control of ABN AMRO – which had bought the airport from former Spanish owners Ferrovial Group. Ferrovial had paid £35m for the airport in 2003.
The sale is the latest in a string of big deals affecting Northern Ireland businesses this year.
This week, Thompson Aero Seating was sold to Chinese state-owned business AVIC.
The first six months of the year also saw the sale of TV broadcaster UTV Ltd to ITV and the sale of the radio stations in UTV Media plc, which rebranded as Wireless Group, to News Corp.
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Earlier:
George Best Belfast City Airport to be sold as part of £500m deal
By Margaret Canning (Belfast Telegraph)
02/04/2016
George Best Belfast City Airport is about to be sold as part of a deal worth nearly £500million the Belfast Telegraph can reveal.
The international fund which owns the airport is on the verge of selling up to another consortium. A spokesman for the airport said it would not be commenting on the deal.
Current owners Eiser Global Infrastructure Fund, based in London, bought the airport for £132.5m in 2008.
They are thought to have spent around £20m on improvements over the last eight years.
Now a consortium led by 3i Infrastructure is expected to make a final binding offer over the next few weeks.
According to news service InfraNews, the consortium is expected to pay around €600m (£480,769,000) for the fund, which also includes UK gas business ESP Utilities, Spanish road company Autovias de Peaje en Sombar and Spanish solar firm ASTE.
3i had made a non-binding offer for the fund late last year but refused to comment on the latest developments in the process.
“I’m afraid we don’t comment on speculation regarding our future intentions,” it said. Eiser also refused to comment on the deal.
It took control of ABN AMRO, which bought the airport from former Spanish owners Ferrovial Group. Ferrovial had paid £35m for the airport in 2003.
More than 2.6 million people used Belfast City Airport last year – an increase of 5.4% on 2014, according to figures from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
In 2015, numbers using rival Belfast International Airport were up 8.9% to almost 4.4 million. Belfast City has links to sun destinations like Faro, Palma, Malaga and Alicante.
UK regional airline Flybe is its biggest airline tenant, while British Airways, Aer Lingus and Dutch airline KLM also fly from it. BA sister airline Vueling withdrew last year after running a Barcelona route for less than a year.
Belgian airline Brussels Airlines last month launched a flight to Brussels from the airport.
There are also two direct Heathrow flights operated by Aer Lingus and British Airways and a London City Airport link by Flybe.
The consortium which is expected to bid for the airport and other assets is made up of 3i, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and other institutional investors.
Speaking earlier this year, Belfast City Airport chief executive Brian Ambrose said he hoped the airport would reach 4 million passengers annually within the next decade. He said he was not bruised by the decision of Ryanair to set up in Belfast International Airport, six years after withdrawing from Belfast City after a dispute over a runway extension.
“We believe that even with that new competition we will continue to grow,” Mr Ambrose said.
Belfast Telegraph
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