Spain's Grupo Ferrovial today moved closer to clinching its £10.1 billion sterling agreed takeover of BAA, buying more shares in the UK airports group as BAA said talks with a rival suitor had ended.
Ferrovial's bidding consortium, through its adviser Citigroup, bought another 140 million BAA shares at its offer price of 935 pence a share. This took the consortium's stake in BAA to 28.7%.
Separately, BAA said talks with a consortium including Goldman Sachs Infrastructure, which had made a rival offer for the owner of London's Heathrow airport, had ended.
BAA chose the Ferrovial consortium's offer over a slightly higher 940p-a-share bid from the Goldman Sachs group, partly because it was at a more advanced stage and also because it offered investors the choice of receiving shares.
Earlier, BAA reported a 3.6% rise in passenger traffic at its airports in May.
Ferrovial's consortium includes Canada's Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec and Singapore's GIC Special Investments.
The Goldman Sachs team includes US insurer AIG, Canadian investment fund Borealis, Commonwealth Bank of Australia's Colonial First State, Abu Dhabi investment firm Mubadala and Ontario Teachers Pension Fund.
