British and Majorcan firms become main investors in Spanish airports

Humphrey Carter16/10/2014 00:00

The Spanish government has begun partially privatising Spanish airport body Aena and British and Majorcan investors have bought major stakes.

Palma.—As part of the Spanish government’s austerity measures, it decided to sell off 49 percent of Aena. 21 percent has been sold to investment companies and the rest will be made available to public investors.
However, the investment branch of the leading Majorcan private bank, the Banca March, Corporacion Financiera Alba, has taken the largest single stake, eight percent, while construction company, Grupo Ferrovial, which already owns airports in the UK, has taken a 6.5 percent share, the same as The Children’s Investment Fund (TCI).
TCI is a London-based hedge fund founded by Chris Hohn in 2003 and it manages The Children’s Investment Master Fund.
TCI derives its name from a charitable foundation called The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), set up by Hohn and his wife, Jamie Cooper-Hohn.