The Canadian pension fund owner of Bristol airport is reported to have clinched the takeover of London City airport.
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan beat competition from China, as well as elsewhere in Canada, to buy the Docklands airport.
OTPP will acquire the airport from its US owner Global Infrastructure Partners for £2 billion, or nearly 30 times last year’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization the Financial Times reported.
The organisation OTPP already owns several airports, including Bristol, and has minority stakes in Birmingham, Copenhagen and Brussels airports.
The fund, one of the world’s largest investors in infrastructure, also owns the high speed line between London and the Channel Tunnel, and water and power utilities.
London City is one of the country’s fastest-growing airports and over the past decade annual passenger numbers have doubled from 2 million to more than 4 million.
The airport is trying to gain planning permission in order to expand by a further 50% to about 6 million by 2023, but faces local opposition.