The takeover speculation surrounding Gatwick operator BAA has been fuelled by reports that an Australian bank is interested in buying the group.

Macquarie, which has previously bid for the London Stock Exchange, is understood to be finalising a multi-national bid team before tabling an offer for the company.

That could see BAA at the centre of a bidding war between Macquarie and the Spanish infrastructure firm Ferrovial which is also considering an approach.

Macquarie is understood to be in talks with US private equity group Blackstone and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan with a view to making a takeover bid.

Ferrovial is expected to table its offer for the group, which also operates Heathrow and Stansted, this week, with analysts expecting it to be in the region of 850p a share.

But news that a second party is interested in acquiring the airport operator will push BAA's shares higher and could force Ferrovial to raise its offer.

However, any approach from Macquarie, which owns Bristol airport through a joint venture with Ferrovial, could be some way off, as the bank was reported to have not yet appointed advisers to work on the deal.

It had previously been rumoured that Macquarie could join forces with Ferrovial to launch a joint bid.

Meanwhile it was reported that BAA may ask the Takeover Panel to impose a "put up or shut up" deadline on Ferrovial if it fails to make an offer in the next few days to bring an end to the uncertainty.

Shares in BAA fell last Thursday amid rumours that Ferrovial could walk away from an offer, although they bounced back on Friday to close the week at 814p. Last month airports watchdog the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) indicated that it would take a dim view of any takeover bid for BAA using large amounts of debt.

The CAA has stressed that it would not raise caps on airport charges so that any bidder could generate enough cash to pay back loans taken out during a takeover.

It said this was important as significant sums would have to be spent on upgrading facilities at Heathrow and Stansted airports in coming years.

The CAA said its powers allowed it to refer to the Competition Commission any course of conduct that may not be in the public interest.

BAA declined to comment.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006