By Marietta Cauchi and Jessica Hodgson
LONDON--Bids for London's Stansted Airport being sold by U.K.
airport operator BAA Ltd. are due later Tuesday with at least two
potential buyers expected to submit by the deadline, people close
to the deal told Dow Jones Newswires.
Deutsche Bank AG (DB) and ING Bank NV are running the auction
for BAA, which is part owned by Spain's Ferrovial SA (FER.MC). The
operator is selling the airport to satisfy competition concerns
after four years spent fighting regulators and having already sold
Gatwick, London's second-busiest airport, and Edinburgh airport to
comply with the U.K. Competition Commission's concerns over its
dominance of the U.K. airport sector.
Manchester Airports Group, which already owns Manchester, East
Midlands and Bournemouth airports, has confirmed it is making a bid
for Stansted and is bidding jointly with Australia investment firm
Industry Funds Management.
Funds owned by Australian company Macquarie Group Ltd. (MQBKY)
has also been looking at the asset and is likely to make a bid, two
people familiar said.
It is unclear whether H.R.L Morrison & Co. Ltd. will bid.
The New Zealand investment management company said last month that
it had yet to decide whether it will lead a consortium bid to buy
the airport. Morrison & Co. manages publicly listed fund
Infratil Ltd. (IFT.NZ) and was appointed by the New Zealand
Superannuation Fund to manage a global infrastructure investment
mandate in 2006. Any bid by Morrison & Co. will likely involve
both funds.
Ryanair Holdings PLC (RYAAY) recently said it had been withdrawn
from the process, saying Ferrovial excluded it from the sale.
Stansted, is valued at around one billion pounds ($1.58
billion)
Write to marietta.cauchi@dowjones.com
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