French airport operator Vinci Airports will acquire the majority stake (50.01%) of Gatwick Airport for 2.9 billion GBP (3.7 billion USD).
According to the company, the completion of the transaction is expected before the end of the first half of 2019.
“The deal represents a rare opportunity to acquire an airport of this size and quality”, notes Vinci.
Gatwick is the second largest airport in London and is considered the busiest of all airports in the world with one runway. In 2018, it served 45.7 million passengers.
Earlier this month, there were significant interruptions in the activities of the London airport due to the appearance of drones over its territory.
Gatwick’s revenue for the last financial year, which ended March 31, was 764.2 million GBP, while EBITDA was 411.2 million GBP.
Vinci Aiports operates 45 airports in France (Lyon, Nantes, Toulon and others) and abroad – from Lisbon to Osaka and from Santiago to Phnom Penh. In 2017, passenger traffic amounted to 180 million people, revenues – 1.4 billion EUR.