The infrastructure fund which owns a majority stake in Gatwick, Britain's second largest airport, has plans to increase its leverage on the asset, one of the partners that led its acquisition said on Monday, according to Reuters. Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) agreed in October to buy Gatwick from Ferrovial's BAA for 1.45 billion pounds ($2.15 billion), equivalent to 87 percent of the airport's regulated asset base (RAB) at the acquisition date. "We estimate the debt-to-RAB ratio (at the time of Ferrovial's acquisition of BAA) to have been around 75-80 percent, whereas we had 43 percent," GIP partner Michael McGhee told the Transfin 2010 conference in Barcelona. "The availability of debt in the first half of last year probably reached rock bottom. We would think (Gatwick's) debt would increase over time, we will extend the maturity a bit later in the bond markets." Gatwick could end up with a debt-to-RAB ratio of 60 to 65 percent, McGhee added. Last month, Ferrovial Chief Executive Inigo Meiras told Reuters BAA was prepared to launch up to 1 billion pounds in bonds this year to swap bank debt. GIP has also been carrying out an equity syndication of Gatwick. Last week Calpers, the biggest U.S. public pension fund, said it had committed up to roughly $155 million for a 12.7 percent equity stake in the airport. Earlier this year, GIP, founded by Credit Suisse and General Electric, sold stakes in Gatwick to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, and to South Korea's National Pension Service. ($1=.6743 Pound)
