Back in the day, East Midlands and Bournemouth Airports were put up for sale by their owner - National Express, if I recall correctly - as a package deal. The two had to be purchased together or not at all. Hence, Manchester Airport ended up owning Bournemouth Hurn by default when East Midlands Airport was the true object of their desires. A kind of large-scale 'buy one get one free' deal!
That is very true. However BOH had huge potential for property / industrial development on the old BAC site which was also attractive.
From the MAG website
There are over 2700 people employed on the site as a whole, including the 185 companies based on the business parks and general aviation areas, generating over £24 million of income for the region annually.
Aviation Business Park