Ferrovial moves to block rivals - The Herald

Ferrovial moves to block rivals - The Herald: "Ferrovial, the Spanish infrastructure and services group, yesterday acted quickly to block any rival bids for BAA by snapping up 14% of the British airport operator's shares just hours after confirming a �10.1bn agreed takeover.
The buying spree saw Ferrovial hoover up 150 million BAA shares at 950.25p, an outlay of about �1.42bn.
The Spanish fiirm also has a break clause of �115.5m, which BAA would have to pay it if it accepted another offer.
Dealers said this would make it more difficult for rival bidders to trump Ferrovial's 935p-per-share offer. The deal also includes a final dividend of 15.25p, bringing the total value of the deal for shareholders to 950.25p, or �10.3bn.
Goldman Sachs, which is leading another consortium, urged BAA shareholders to take no action as it is reviewing its position � suggesting the battle may not yet be over.
The US investment bank had offered 955.25p, a full 5p per share more than Ferrovial, but BAA's board was thought to have been swayed by Ferrovial's bid being more advanced.
Goldman's bid would have taken two months to complete, creating a longer period of uncertainty for investors. There were also concerns that Goldman would break up the airports and sell them off.
Graham Exton, fund manager at Tilney Investment Management, said: 'It sounds like Goldman had various conditions applied to their offer. They would have to loosen both the restrictions and increase their offer to get BAA management to look at it.'
On the other hand, Ferrovial was quick to emphasise it had no plans to break up the UK estate and said it was committed to the existing capital expenditure programme of BAA.
Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways, which is BAA's biggest customer, indicated he was feeling optimistic about the expansion of Lon"