LTNman
22nd Jan 2004, 01:42
Shares in TBI, the UK regional airport group, fell by 8.5 per cent on Wednesday as Hochtief, Germany's biggest construction group, announced that it had abandoned a potential takeover bid.
TBI operates London Luton, Belfast International and Cardiff airports in the UK and Stockholm-Skavsta airport in Sweden and has been seeking to expand by attracting growing business from the low cost airlines.
It also has limited airport interests in the US, on which it took a £6.2m write-off in the first half of the current financial year, and in Bolivia.
In early December following a sharp rise in the TBI share price Hochtief Airport (HTA), the airport management arm of Europe's fifth largest construction group, disclosed that it was "considering the merits of a potential acquisition of TBI".
On Wednesday, however, the German group said it had given up the project and was "no longer considering a potential acquisition".
A spokeswoman for Hochtief said that a review of available information about TBI had shown that the two companies would not be a good fit. "Its structure is a little complicated," she said, "and the risks and price would not fit with our strategy."
In a brief statement TBI said that "at no stage" had it been contacted by Hochtief to discuss a potential offer.
The TBI share price closed 5 3/4p or 8.5 per cent lower at 61 3/4p. In early December. when Hochtief disclosed its interest, the price jumped by 17 per cent to 72p, valuing the group at £402.4m. It reached a 12-month high a day later at 72 1/4p compared with a low for the last 12 months of 40p at the end of March during the Iraq war.
TBI was previously a takeover target in the summer of 2001, when Vinci, the French construction group, launched a 90p-a-share hostile bid valuing TBI at £517.3m.
The deal collapsed in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, which led to a steep fall in aviation and airport stocks around the world.
Vinci still retains the 14.9 per cent stake it built up in TBI in the summer of 2001, but said last month that the stake was not considered to be a strategic holding and that it was for sale at the right price.
Stanley Thomas, TBI chairman, independently investigated the option of taking the group private last year, but later abandoned the project.
In February last year the TBI board formally issued a denial that it was in talks with the Royal Bank of Scotland, or any other party, with a view to taking the company private.
The dominant shareholdings in TBI are held by members of the Thomas family with a total of around 19.2 per cent led by Stanley Thomas, non-executive chairman, with a personal holding of 9.4 per cent. A five per cent stake is also held by Dermot Desmond, the Irish financier who controls London City airport.
TBI passenger volumes increased by 16.2 per cent year-on-year at its four European airports to 3.2m in the latest quarter from October to December.
Most of its traffic comes from the low cost sector. The share of more lucrative full service traffic is down to only six per cent from 10.5 per cent a year ago, and charter volumes are flat.
The Essen-based Hochtief is majority-controlled by German power group RWE. It set up the airport management unit Hochtief Airport three years ago after winning contracts to build several big international airports.
It now holds stakes in Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Athens and Sydney airports.
TBI operates London Luton, Belfast International and Cardiff airports in the UK and Stockholm-Skavsta airport in Sweden and has been seeking to expand by attracting growing business from the low cost airlines.
It also has limited airport interests in the US, on which it took a £6.2m write-off in the first half of the current financial year, and in Bolivia.
In early December following a sharp rise in the TBI share price Hochtief Airport (HTA), the airport management arm of Europe's fifth largest construction group, disclosed that it was "considering the merits of a potential acquisition of TBI".
On Wednesday, however, the German group said it had given up the project and was "no longer considering a potential acquisition".
A spokeswoman for Hochtief said that a review of available information about TBI had shown that the two companies would not be a good fit. "Its structure is a little complicated," she said, "and the risks and price would not fit with our strategy."
In a brief statement TBI said that "at no stage" had it been contacted by Hochtief to discuss a potential offer.
The TBI share price closed 5 3/4p or 8.5 per cent lower at 61 3/4p. In early December. when Hochtief disclosed its interest, the price jumped by 17 per cent to 72p, valuing the group at £402.4m. It reached a 12-month high a day later at 72 1/4p compared with a low for the last 12 months of 40p at the end of March during the Iraq war.
TBI was previously a takeover target in the summer of 2001, when Vinci, the French construction group, launched a 90p-a-share hostile bid valuing TBI at £517.3m.
The deal collapsed in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, which led to a steep fall in aviation and airport stocks around the world.
Vinci still retains the 14.9 per cent stake it built up in TBI in the summer of 2001, but said last month that the stake was not considered to be a strategic holding and that it was for sale at the right price.
Stanley Thomas, TBI chairman, independently investigated the option of taking the group private last year, but later abandoned the project.
In February last year the TBI board formally issued a denial that it was in talks with the Royal Bank of Scotland, or any other party, with a view to taking the company private.
The dominant shareholdings in TBI are held by members of the Thomas family with a total of around 19.2 per cent led by Stanley Thomas, non-executive chairman, with a personal holding of 9.4 per cent. A five per cent stake is also held by Dermot Desmond, the Irish financier who controls London City airport.
TBI passenger volumes increased by 16.2 per cent year-on-year at its four European airports to 3.2m in the latest quarter from October to December.
Most of its traffic comes from the low cost sector. The share of more lucrative full service traffic is down to only six per cent from 10.5 per cent a year ago, and charter volumes are flat.
The Essen-based Hochtief is majority-controlled by German power group RWE. It set up the airport management unit Hochtief Airport three years ago after winning contracts to build several big international airports.
It now holds stakes in Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Athens and Sydney airports.