Balfour Beatty to buy Blackpool Airport
06.05.08
Balfour Beatty, the engineering, construction and investment company, has agreed to acquire a 95% stake in Blackpool Airport. It is paying £14m in cash to acquire the stake from Mar Properties, a large property developer based in Northern Ireland.
The transaction is subject to the approval of Blackpool Borough Council, which owns the remaining 5% stake in the airport. However, the council is supportive of the deal and expects to ratify it by Friday (May 9).
Balfour Beatty's airport investment and development division, Regional and City Airports, will acquire the stake. This will be its second airport acquisition in less than 18 months, after it bought Exeter Airport - now one of the fastest growing airports in the UK - for £60m in January last year.
Airlines operating at Blackpool airport include Jet2., Ryanair and Manx2. The airport is expected to handle around 500,000 passengers this year travelling to 12 scheduled destinations in the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe.
The leader of Blackpool Borough Council, Councillor Peter Callow, described the deal as ‘great news for Blackpool.’ He said: ‘Clearly it has the contacts and capacity to deliver these aspirations, which should mean growth for the area and more jobs for local people.’
Balfour Beatty chief executive, Ian Tyler, said: ‘Blackpool is a well-located airport with the potential to become a thriving international gateway to Lancashire and Cumbria. We will work together with the airlines and our local partners to help increase its penetration within this core catchment area and to play its part in attracting inbound visitors to the region.'
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