Bankinter | A British court has placed a precautionary embargo on the airport operator’s right of usufruct over Luton Airport (London). The decision affects 26.01% of Luton’s shares, where Aena has a total stake of 51%. It therefore affects the Spanish government’s indirect shareholding in the British airport.
It is the consequence of an award condemning Spain for the cut in premiums for renewable energies. Specifically, the energy company NextEra has asked the British courts to approve and enforce an award of €291m issued by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the arbitration court of the World Bank.
Opinion of Bankinter’s analysis team: Bad news for AENA. This is a source of additional uncertainty, which could extend over time. Although the decision only affects half of its stake in Luton, it leaves AENA temporarily without control of the airport. The news should have a negative, albeit moderate, impact on the share price. The stake in Luton represents around 2% of its market capitalisation. We maintain our Sell recommendation, as it offers little potential relative to our target price (€174.0/share).
