Abu Dhabi acquires 15% stake in Gatwick for £125m

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is to buy a 15 per cent stake in Gatwick Airport for £125 million.

The purchase by ADIA, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, comes in the same week as South Korea’s National Pension Service bought a 12 per cent stake in the airport for £100 million.

Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), the infrastructure fund set up by Credit Suisse and GE, bought Gatwick last year for £1.5 billion. It has said it is seeking additional investors but will retain management control of the UK’s second largest airport.

According to The Times, the fund is talking to several other potential investors about buying into the UK’s second largest airport, although none of these are thought to be close to agreeing a deal.

ADIA held talks with a number of potential Gatwick buyers during the early part of the sale process but it did not to take part in the eventual auction.

A spokesman for GIP said the group welcomed ADIA as a long-term investor in Gatwick, but declined to say precisely how much ADIA had paid.

ADIA is looking to regain ground after suffering big losses on a $7.5bn (£4.7bn) investment in Citigroup, which has seen it file an arbitration claim against the bank. The fund has also suffered losses on private equity investments.