BAA mortgages airport runway properties
10.03.10
BAA has mortgaged 39 homes close to Stansted, many of which it is planning to knock down to make way for a planned second runway, the Telegraph reports. The latest return for Stansted Airport, filed last week at Companies House, reveals that BAA has taken out mortgages with Royal Bank of Scotland on houses, offering them as security against the £10.5bn borrowings of BAA (SP) Ltd - the parent business for Stansted and Heathrow airports.
Anti-expansion campaigners said the mortgages proved BAA could not pay for the runway at Stansted, where operating profits dived from £81m to £27m last year as passengers fell. Brian Ross, economics adviser for the Stop Stansted Expansion campaign group, told the newspaper: ‘It smacks of desperation when BAA even has to mortgage the very houses it has purchased in connection with its second runway plans. How on earth can BAA continue to state that it remains fully committed to a £3bn second runway when it is already mortgaged right up to the hilt. It's a case of Walter Mitty pretending to be Paul Getty.’
However, a BAA spokesman denied the mortgages indicated any monetary strain. He said: 'This is simply part of the securitisation on all our assets. It is simply the way we are financed.’
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