BAA, the airport owner, is struggling to sell a portfolio of warehouses and offices around Heathrow and Gatwick and is under pressure to cut the £1bn price tag by at least £100m. The Times
Ferrovial, the Spanish owner of BAA, has been trying to sell the property for more than a year, as it tries to reduce and refinance £8bn of debt that it took on to fund its share of the purchase of BAA.
Airport Development and Investment, in which Ferrovial has a 61% stake, bought BAA for £16.3bn. However, the credit crunch has made debt refinancing more complicated and since the beginning of the year some of Ferrovial’s borrowings – £4.7bn worth of bonds – have been attracting higher rates of interest.
Ferrovial is thought to be working on transferring those bonds into a new securitised vehicle, but it could face opposition from bondholders.