18 Potential Bidders Line Up To Lease Lambert
Date Posted: November 5, 2019
Posted In: News,
From St. Louis Post-Dispatch: All the contestants in the controversial high-stakes derby to lease St. Louis Lambert International Airport are now out in the open, as the city announced Friday that 18 companies and teams of firms have turned in applications.
A city committee, the Airport Advisory Working Group, will now review the submissions and decide which to seek bids from.
One prospective bidder on the list had previously disclosed its interest publicly — STL Aviation Group, a consortium led by California-based Oaktree Capital Management that hired several politically connected lobbyists. The group includes a company that runs airports in France and elsewhere.
But a prominent no-show was Ferrovial Airports, a Spanish company that had hired former Mayor Francis Slay — now an attorney in private practice — to help lobby for it. Ferrovial operates four airports in the United Kingdom, including London’s Heathrow Airport.
The list does include various other firms that hadn’t figured in political speculation over Lambert privatization over the past year.
Among them is Lambert Gateway Partners, a consortium including the Public School and Education Employee Retirement Systems of Missouri and Blackstone Infrastructure Group, among others.
Another teacher group also declared its interest — the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, which is working with Ontario Airports Investments Limited and Copenhagen Airports International.
Among other applicants are Netherlands-based Royal Schiphol Group, which runs airports in Amsterdam, other Dutch cities and elsewhere, and Luxembourg-based CAAP, which also is involved with various airports.
The 18 entities responded to a “request for qualifications” issued a month ago by the airport working group. The deadline for submissions was 5 p.m. Friday.