Adia-backed bid for Malaysia Airports nears threshold

• Consortium edges closer
• Stake increased to 84.1%
• Shares up slightly

A takeover offer for Malaysia Airports Holdings by a consortium that includes the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) has edged closer to the threshold required to take it private. 

The group, which includes Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah, BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners and Malaysia’s Employees Provident Fund, said it has secured an 84.1 percent stake of the company, moving it closer to the 90 percent threshold to delist Malaysia Airports. 

The group had extended its offer from Wednesday this week to January 17, a filing on Bursa Malaysia said. 

Malaysia Airports Holdings, set up by the Malaysian government in 1991, manages most of the airports in Malaysia.

The consortium behind the bid for Malaysia Airports has increased its stake in the company over the past month from 41 percent to 70 percent.  

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The move to privatise Malaysia Airports, which is valued at around $4 billion, was first announced in May last year. 

If it wins the bid for Malaysia Airports, the consortium plans to upgrade infrastructure, enhance passenger service levels and improve airline connectivity to support passenger and freight growth.

Malaysia Airports’ network serves some of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets, which are benefiting from regional economic growth, increased air travel affordability and shifts in consumer spending, Khadem Alremeithi, executive director of the infrastructure department of Adia, said in May. 

Shares in Malaysia Airports Holdings were up slightly in Thursday trading, and are up 41 percent in the past year.