Ferrovial To Meet BAA Shareholders
Mar. 27, 2006
Spain's Grupo Ferrovial has scheduled more meetings with BAA shareholders this week as it seeks support for its GBP?8.8 billion (USD$15.37 billion) bid for the British airports group, a source familiar with the situation said on Monday.
"There are more meetings this week. They (Ferrovial) are waiting to get feedback on all those," the source said.
The source rejected newspaper reports in Britain and Spain that major shareholders were demanding 900 pence a share, well above the 810 pence offer Ferrovial proposed this month.
BAA, which owns London's Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports, is due to issue a trading statement on Tuesday, giving investors a chance to question BAA management on Ferrovial's interest.
BAA said on March 17 it had rejected a proposed offer from a consortium led by Ferrovial. Britain's Takeover Panel last week set Ferrovial a deadline of April 24 to either announce a firm bid or walk away.
Some major BAA shareholders said earlier this month the proposed offer was too low. Standard Life, which has pointed to GBP?1 as an acceptable bid level, said on Monday nothing had changed from its earlier statement.
Ferrovial's consortium partners include Singapore's government and Canadian fund manager Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec.
Australia's Macquarie Bank is also considering an offer for BAA and is in talks with US private equity group Blackstone and Canada's Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan about a potential bid, sources familiar with the situation have said.