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BAA 'may only get £1.3bn for Gatwick'
23.03.09
Gatwick Airport could be worth as little as £1.33 billion, rather than the £2 billion-plus its owner BAA hoped to receive from auctioning it off.
A secret report commissioned by three of the airport's largest customers - easyJet, Virgin Atlantic and holiday company TUI - said that Gatwick was worth between £1.33 billion and £1.73 billion last December.
Its value could be even less than that now, since traffic has fallen sharply this year. BAA has been told to give the three potential buyers of Gatwick another month, until the end of April, to arrange their financing for any offer.
At the same time, the Competition Commission last week ordered BAA, which was bought by Spain's Ferrovial for £10.1 billion three years ago, also to sell Stansted and either Edinburgh or Glasgow airports.
