Hochtief, Macquarie and Balfour line up for Gatwick Airport sale

Hochtief, Macquarie and Balfour Beatty are tipped to bid for BAA’s Gatwick Airport, put up for sale last week at the recommendation of the Competition Commission.

German contractor Hochtief, which includes a division that operates six airports including Sydney and Hamburg, confirmed to CJ it had declared an interest in the £2bn sale.

It joins five other firms interested in buying up the airport, including the Australian group Macquarie, Balfour Beatty and Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic.

A source at Hochtief said it thought the economy “might pick up shortly” and that it was a “very interesting proposal”.

Hochtief’s air division also operates airports in Athens, Budapest, Dusseldorf and Tirana in Albania.

BAA put Gatwick up for sale last week after the Competition Commission recommended it break up its monopoly on airports in the UK.

A Balfour Beatty spokeswoman said the firm would not comment on "market speculation".