Last month, Allen & Overy (A&O), Hogan Lovells and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer led on Heathrow Airport Holdings’ final airport disposal as Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports were sold to a consortium formed by Ferrovial and Macquarie for £1.05bn.
Heathrow Airport Holdings (formerly BAA) agreed to sell its 100% stake in all three airports, though the deal is still subject to EU approval. Closing is expected before the end of January 2015, with the consideration expected to increase to compensate Heathrow for the delay.
A&O advised Ferrovial and Macquarie, led by infrastructure partners Richard Evans and Conrad Andersen, while Pinsent Masons advised on Scottish aspects, with partner Richard Linton acting. Hogan Lovells acted for the consortium of banks supporting the deal, led by infrastructure and project finance partner Andrew Gallagher.
Freshfields’ established relationship with Heathrow led to it advising on the seller’s side, headed by corporate partner Stephen Hewes and co-head of international energy and natural resources, Laurie McFadden. McFadden, who worked on the 2006 BAA hostile takeover by Ferrovial, told Legal Business: ‘It’s a great relationship. For the past year or so we have been working on so many airport deals.’
Heathrow Airport Holdings’ general counsel Carol Hui oversaw the process in-house and the deal concludes a period which has seen the sale of all of its airports except for Heathrow.
Freshfields also acted when BAA sold Gatwick in 2010 for £1.5bn to Global Infrastructure Partners alongside Herbert Smith. The operator committed to selling Edinburgh Airport in 2011, but conducted a long-running legal battle to keep control of Stansted, which was ultimately lost after a Supreme Court ruling in 2012, leading to Stansted’s sale to Manchester Airports Group for £1.5bn.
jaishreee.kalia@legalease.co.uk