Macquarie Asset Management has announced an agreement to acquire ownership stakes in Bristol, Birmingham and London City Airports.
The acquisition has been made possible via the Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 7 on behalf of long-term institutional investors, including pension funds and insurance companies.
As part of the deal, the acquisition from Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan will see Macquarie obtain a 55% stake in Bristol Airport, a 26.5% stake in Birmingham Airport and a 25% stake in London City Airport.
The investment will enable long-term support from Macquarie, which intends to expand route networks, further enhance passenger experiences and work closely with management teams to implement new sustainability strategies.
Gordon Parsons, a Senior Managing Director at Macquarie Asset Management in EMEA, said:As a leading investor in airports around the world, including the UK, we understand their importance to local communities and for economic growth. Collectively, Birmingham, Bristol and London City airports serve over 25 million passengers each year and are a valued home for leading regional and global airlines. Each airport has a unique path for growth ahead, and we’re supportive of the management teams’ plans to deliver enhanced customer experiences and more routes to each of the communities they serve.
We look forward to playing our part, as a long-term investor, to support all three airports on their development in the years to come.
Previous Macquarie investments have included hub airports across Australia, Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Ecuador and Colombia.
Recently, the company divested from AGS Airports, which both owns and operates primary airports serving Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton. During its ownership period, Macquarie invested 250 million GBP in vital improvements to the airport, including a 9 million GBP investment to renovate infrastructure at Glasgow Airport to accommodate wide-body aircraft, as well as a 17 million GBP runway extension at Southampton Airport which opened in 2024.
The industry’s largest-ever fund focused on European infrastructure; the Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 7 is the seventh vintage of Macquarie’s successful European Fund series, which first started in 2004 and has thus far has committed more than 24 billion EUR of capital across the UK and Europe.
