Abu Dhabi investment firm eyes Madrid airport bid

Madrid Barajas airport, which Spain expects to raise at least €3.7bn ($5.2bn), drew bids from six groups led by companies including local builders Ferrovial, Acciona, FCC and Grupo Empresarial San Jose.Ferrovial, owner of London’s Heathrow airport, teamed with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Australia’s Industry Funds Management and Infinity Investments of Abu Dhabi, while Acciona is bidding with Frankfurt airport operator Fraport AG.The group led by Fomento de Construcciones & Contratas SA includes Singapore’s Changi Airport Group, together with Munich- based Siemens AG, Europe’s biggest engineering company, state-owned Aena Aeropuertos SA said today in a statement. Grupo San Jose is bidding with Cedicor SA and Global Mirobriga, Aena said. Spain is selling a contract to run Europe’s fourth-busiest hub as it grapples with the euro-region’s biggest budget deficit after Greece and Ireland. The other bidders, GMR Infrastructure Ltd. of India and a group including Aeroports de Paris, Global Infrastructure Partners of the US and a unit of Allianz SE, didn’t identify Spanish members, according to Monday’s statement.“This isn’t going to be an easy sale,” said Pablo Ortiz de Juan, an analyst at research firm Interdin Bolsa in Madrid. “The groups are going to start adding up the numbers and difficult financing conditions and current economic growth prospects are likely to lead to very prudent valuations.”Barcelona’s El Prat airport, valued at €1.6bn by Aena and also up for sale, drew bids from the same groups with the exception of San Jose, while also receiving an offer from Abertis Infraestructuras SA, based in the Catalan city, allied to Borealis Infrastructure of Canada and Ibervias.Madrid airport last year attracted 49.8 million passengers, an increase of 2.8 percent, according to industry group Airport Councils International. The home-base of Iberia, Spain’s biggest airline, added a fourth terminal and two runways in 2006, giving it the capacity to 70 million people annually. From / Arabian Business News