Adu Dhabi to take 15 per cent stake in London Gatwick Airport

05/02/2010

By Jeremy Price.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the city's sovereign wealth fund, is to purchase a 15 per cent stake in London Gatwick Airport, it has been revealed.

According to the Times, the organisation will invest £125 million in the airport and is currently seeking out other potentially interested parties.

The news comes after South Korea's National Pension Service announced plans to buy a 12 per cent stake in Gatwick for around £100 million.

A spokesman for Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), owner of the airport, told the Financial Times the company was happy to be working with ADIA but refused to comment on the exact sum the company is to inject into the airport.

GIP acquired London Gatwick Airport last year at a cost of £1.5 billion and is sponsored by Credit Suisse and General Electric.

In related news, the airport recently announced it handled some 2.12 million in December last year, a 1.5 per cent increase on the previous year.

A total of 32.37 million people passed through its gates in 2009, a 5.3 per cent reduction on 2008 figures.