BAA close to acquiring Australian airports stake

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A consortium involving BAA and Australian finance company Hastings Fund Management is believed to have reached agreement to purchase from TBI a 16% stake in Perth airport, 30% of Hobart airport and 19.9% of Northern Territories airports (Darwin and Alice Springs).

The deal worth £60m ($86m) will put BAA into partnership with retailer Nuance Group at Perth airport as well as Australia's second airport Melbourne, where BAA is already part of the management company Australia Pacific Airports Corp (APAC). A merger of the Perth airport company Westralia and APAC may then follow.

TBI acquired its Australian airport interests when it paid £88.6m ($127m) for US company Airport Group International (AGI) in September 1999. Last autumn TBI, which owns stakes in Luton, Stockholm Skavska, Belfast and Cardiff airports, announced it was being advised by UBS Warburg for the sale of its remaining Australian airport holdings.