AviAlliance, a private airport investor and operator, has announced the acquisition of AGS Airports, the owners of Aberdeen Airport (ABZ) and Glasgow Airport (GLA) in Scotland and Southampton Airport (SOU) in England from joint parent companies Ferrovial and Macquarie. The deal is reportedly worth around £1.53 billion ($1.98 billion). The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2025.
AGS Airports, established in 2014, operates the three regional airports as a single business with the trio of gateways serving large and growing regions of the United Kingdom. Aberdeen was the UK’s 16th business airport in 2023 handling 2.3 million passengers, while Glasgow Airport handled 7.4 million passengers bringing it in as the ninth busiest. South of the border, Southampton took 22nd place handling just under 760,000 passengers in 2023.
According to a statement issued by AviAlliance, “Operating within the attractive British air travel market, AGS Airports benefit from strong fundamentals and continued demand for business and leisure travel, which is expected to drive growth in domestic and international passenger traffic. AviAlliance will leverage its extensive global airport expertise to responsibly develop AGS Airports, enhancing air connectivity, improving the passenger experience, and supporting local communities.”
AviAlliance is a wholly owned airport operating platform run by the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) of Canada. Founded in 1997 and acquired by PSP Investments in 2013, it has established a track record of growing traffic and enhancing the passenger experience, as well as investing in its airport assets. AviAlliance’s portfolio of four airports served 73 million passengers in 2023, an increase of more than 20% compared to 2022. The airports owned before this latest deal was announced include Athens (ATH), Düsseldorf (DUS), Hamburg (HAM), and San Juan (Puerto Rico).
PSP Investments is a long-standing investor in UK infrastructure and real estate, having opened an office in London in 2016. Its infrastructure investments include majority ownership positions in Forth Ports, one of the largest port operators in the UK, and Angel Trains, the country’s largest railway rolling stock leasing company.
“Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Southampton Airports provide vital connectivity for communities in Scotland and the Southeast of England,” said Gerhard Schroeder, Managing Director of AviAlliance. “As a seasoned airport investor and manager with in-depth industry expertise, AviAlliance will enable each airport to realize its full potential. We are committed to supporting the airports over the long term to expand their route networks, further improve the passenger experience, and implement the airports’ sustainability strategy.”
“PSP Investments is a significant investor across several sectors in Scotland and more broadly, the United Kingdom, with over £10bn of investments in the United Kingdom,” said Sandiren Curthan, Managing Director and Global Head of Infrastructure Investments at PSP Investments. “Our PSP Infrastructure strategy consists of investing in sectors where PSP Investments has strong expertise and a track record of delivering value for our beneficiaries.”
“Airports is a sector that fits that strategy given AviAlliance’s deep operational expertise. We are delighted to add AGS Airports to our infrastructure portfolio and look forward to working with our key stakeholders to improve services to the communities in which AGS Airports operate, recognizing the critical role that these airports play in supporting economic growth in Scotland and England” added Curthan.
The three airports were once part of the UK state-owned British Airports Authority (later BAA) before it was sold to an investment group led by Spain’s Ferrovial in 2006 due to competition laws stating that it had a virtual monopoly on running airports in the UK. The other airports once part of BAA were London-Heathrow (LHR), London-Gatwick (LGW), London-Stansted (STN), and Edinburgh (ABZ). The company also had interests in 12 airports outside of the UK before it was sold.