German builder may bid for Gatwick airport

Hochtief AG, Germany's biggest builder, may bid for Gatwick Airport if the UK competition authority forces BAA Ltd to sell at least one of its three London airports.

“If it's Gatwick that goes up for sale, that would be especially interesting,” Donatella Gasser, a spokeswoman for Hochtief's airport business, said today by telephone. “When the competition authority decides, we'll look into getting involved.”

Hochtief, based in Essen, has moved into areas with steadier earnings than building, including buying stakes in airports from Dusseldorf to Sydney. The UK Competition Commission is scheduled to release a preliminary report this month on whether BAA's ownership of London's three largest airports, Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, stifles competition.

Gatwick could fetch as much as £3.4 billion ($6.3 billion), according to Exane BNP Paribas analyst Steven Fernandez. BAA has been approached by international infrastructure groups offering as much as £3 billion, the Sunday Times reported, without saying where it got the information.

BAA, based in London, runs seven UK airports and is owned by Spain's Grupo Ferrovial SA.