Confirmation of the multi-million euro sale of Luton airport could come today.
Spanish infrastructure group Abertis is reported to be close to announcing the disposal of its majority stake in the airport.
Aena, the Spanish airport operator and minority shareholder, is expected to take the stake, according to the Financial Times, which said final details were being thrashed out last night.
Abertis was working to achieve a price of about €490m in enterprise value for the entire airport, of which it would receive 90%, to reflect its stake.
Aena was pushing for a sum of just below £400 million in equity value, the newspaper reported people close to the talks as saying.
The company plans toto imcrease capacity at Luton from 10 million a year in 2012 to about 18 million a year.
More can be done to make the journey to central London quicker and smoother, and to boost the airport’s image, Aena believes.
Luton is the first non-Spanish airport that Aena will control. The company handles nearly 200 million passengers a year across airports in Spain and had revenue of €2.67 billion in 2012.
An Abertis spokesman said: “The agreement is advanced and the deal has moved on significantly today [Monday], but is still not signed.”
The company sold Belfast International and an airport in Stockholm earlier this month to US airports operator ADC & HAS. Cardiff airport was bought by the Welsh government in March for €61 million.
The sale of Luton will mark the last part of its TBI airports division to be sold after Abertis launched a strategic review of the assets.