Heathrow Airport’s largest shareholder Ardian has increased its stake to 32.6% by acquiring an additional 10% interest in the UK airport from Ferrovial SE, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and other shareholders in an £866m (€1bn) deal.
Ferrovial said it agreed to sell its 5.25% interest in Heathrow Airport’s parent FGP Topco to Ardian for £455m, as part of a deal that also included Canadian investor CDPQ and UK’s Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) selling their combined 4.75% stake to the France-based investment firm.
Last year, Ardian acquired its 22.6% majority stake in TopCo from Ferrovial and other shareholders, while the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund agreed to acquire 15% of London’s largest airport from the same sellers.
The shareholder breakdown following last year’s deal comprised Qatar Investment Authority (20%), CDPQ (12.62%), Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC (11.2%), Australian Retirement Trust (11.18%), China Investment Corporation (10%) and the UK’s Universities Superannuation Scheme (10%).
Mathias Burghardt, EVP, CEO of Ardian France and head of infrastructure at Ardian, said: “Since we became the largest shareholder of Heathrow in December, the airport has continued to perform strongly with traffic reaching 83.9m passengers in 2024.
“We are delighted to be working with our fellow shareholders, the Heathrow management team and the UK authorities on our shared ambition to deliver sustainable growth of this iconic infrastructure. Investment in Heathrow will deliver economic benefits across the entire country.”
Juan Angoitia, co-head of infrastructure Europe and senior MD at Ardian, said: “There is strong demand for aviation which is underpinning the growth at Heathrow. We believe there are ways to build, expand and grow in a sustainable way and we will explore these with all stakeholders.”
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