US-based investment firm and asset manager Blackstone is taking a 22% shareholding in AGS Airports, the parent of Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton airports in the UK.
Blackstone is acquiring the shareholding from AviAlliance – which took over AGS Airports towards the end of last year – for a sum of £235 million ($304 million).
AviAlliance will retain the 78% balance in AGS.
Blackstone, headquartered in New York, says its investment is intended to “support the continued growth of the travel and tourism industries” across the UK.
“AGS has access to one of the most diversified airline mixes of any major UK airport, and the company’s recent capital improvements aimed at accommodating large aircraft pave the way for new routes and higher traffic growth,” says Blackstone Infrastructure Strategies chief Greg Blank.
German-based AviAlliance managing director Gerhard Schroeder says the company is looking to develop a “constructive and long-term partnership” with Blackstone.
AviAlliance has interests in several other airports including Hamburg, Dusseldorf and Athens.
Canadian pension investor PSP Investments, which owns AviAlliance, says both itself and Blackstone are “like-minded investors” with “long-term patient capital”.
