The French building giant Vinci has initiated a £516 million sterling (€817 million) hostile bid for TBI, the British airport operator which owns Belfast International Airport.
TBI directors have rejected overtures made by Vinci to win their support in the bid to take control of the airports group, which is also a majority shareholder in Luton Airport in the United Kingdom.
Financier Mr Dermot Desmond owns 3.33 per cent of TBI and also owns London City Airport.
A spokesman for Mr Desmond was unable to contact the businessman to ask whether he would consider making a counterbid for Belfast International Airport.
The French group has offered to pay 90p for each share in TBI, and said it was disappointed not to have received the support of the TBI board to pursue its acquisition ambitions.
The offer values TBI at a 50.6 per cent premium to the group's closing price on August 13th, the last business day prior to the French group's expression of interest.
Vinci said yesterday that it had approached TBI with a view to obtaining a recommendation, but no agreement was reached.
"Vinci believes that the offer represents full and fair value, delivers certainty for TBI shareholders and is a matter on which they should be allowed to make their own decision," the group said in a statement.
TBI operates a handful of UK airports including Cardiff International, and operates secondary airports such as Orlando in the US and Skavsta in Stockholm, Sweden.
In recent years the company has transformed itself from a purely property business to a specialist airport operator.
It recently reported a 6 per cent increase in pre-tax profits of £19.3 million for the financial year to March.
But it was forced to issue a profits warning earlier this month following the decision by Bmi, formerly British Midland, to transfer all its services to and from Northern Ireland from Belfast International Airport to its chief rival, Belfast City.
TBI has said this move will cut its airport revenues by up to £6 million a year.
Among TBI's key shareholders are Schroder Investment Management, which holds 16.44 per cent of the group, the Lockheed Martin Corporation which has a 5.17 per cent stake and Mr Desmond.
Vinci also holds 83,250,000 TBI Shares, or 14.9 per cent of the British group's issued share capital, which it acquired from an institutional investor on Monday.
The French group, which is estimated to have a market value of more than €5 billion, already employs around 7,000 people in the UK through its building division, Norwest Holst and Vinci Park, a major car park operator.
Mr Antoine Zacharias, the chairman and chief Executive of Vinci, believes that TBI would be able to focus on larger investment opportunities under its ownership.
"We believe this is a generous offer which provides TBI shareholders with the certainty of a cash exit at a 50.6 per cent premium to Monday's share price.
Vinci's business has been built on the successful design, construction and management of transport infrastructure internationally including assets in the UK," Mr Zacharias said.
However, in rejecting the offer, TBI's chief executive, Mr Keith Brooks, said: "TBI owns an attractive and valuable portfolio of airport assets which are, by their very nature, scarce resources. Our objective remains to maximise shareholder value."
He added that since news of Vinci's interest, TBI had received "a number of expressions of interest. The board intends to consider these, with a view to maximising value for the shareholders of TBI".
In an interview, he declined to give further details of the interested firms, nor to say what he considered a fair sale price - beyond drawing comparisons with other UK airport deals.
"Bristol, with 2.2 million passengers, went for £234 million.
"We have a whole number of airports, including Luton, with 6.5 million passengers and Belfast, with 3.5 million," he said.
TBI lost almost a fifth of its value two weeks ago, after warning that profits would be hit by the moves at Bmi.
