Macquarie Airports (MAP) on Tuesday announced an overhaul of its balance sheet that will see the Australian fund selling A$1.5bn of European airport assets to fund a A$1bn share buy-back and help deleverage the company.The Sydney-listed fund, which is managed by Australiaâ??s Macquarie Group, said it would sell stakes in Brussels and Copenhagen airports. The moves are aimed at boosting the companyâ??s share price, which has fallen by almost a third this year.
The announcement from Macquarie came as competition authorities told BAA, the UK airports operator owned by Ferrovial of Spain, that it should offload three of its seven British airports, as it was operating a near monopoly.
MAP was seen as a potential bidder for some of BAA's assets. After their announced sale of other airport stakes this seems unlikely.
MAP on Tuesday reported a net loss of A$274m in the six months to June 30, but said the outlook for the rest of the year was solid.
The fund also revealed it had bought a 5.6 per cent interest in B shares of Asur, the owner and operator of nine airports in south-eastern Mexico, including Cancún.
