BAA says snub takeover offer

The airports group was responding to an announcement from Ferrovial that it had posted its takeover offer document to BAA investors.

BAA will write to shareholders to explain its own position within 14 days, but chairman Marcus Agius said investors should take no action in respect of the offer.

He said: "The Ferrovial consortium's offer cannot be taken seriously. It is no more than a tactical manoeuvre and our shareholders should have nothing to do with it."

It is the third time BAA has publicly rejected the Ferrovial offer proposals, which it said priced the Heathrow owner at a level which "bears no relation to the true value of the company."

Ferrovial, an infrastructure group which also owns UK firm Amey, recently tabled its offer in order to beat a Takeover Panel deadline and buy more time for its attempts to engage the BAA board in talks. It denied its move represented a hostile approach for BAA.

By sending out the document, Ferrovial has started the 60-day timetable for the bid process to take place.

The construction company faces competition from Goldman Sachs for BAA, although the "friendly" approach from the US investment bank was also rejected as too low by the BAA board.

Its highly conditional approach valued BAA at about £9.4 billion, but analysts believe a winning bidder would have to pay at least £9.75 billion.

BAA's UK estate is made up of Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh airports.

The company also has interests in the US, Australia, Italy and Hungary, but Ferrovial has said it would focus investment in the UK, in particular, in the South-East.

The Spanish consortium also includes a Canadian fund manager and the private equity investment arm of the Singapore government.

It sparked takeover speculation in February when it shocked the market by revealing its intention to mount an offer for the FTSE 100 Index company.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006