Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and a French private equity group are set to acquire a 38% stake in Heathrow, London’s busiest airport, according to an announcement made last Friday.

FGP Topco Limited, the consortium owning Heathrow, is led by Spanish infrastructure giant Ferrovial, which currently holds a 25% stake in the airport.

In November, Ferrovial announced plans to sell its stake, with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) acquiring 10% and French private equity group Ardian taking 15%. However, the deal faced obstacles as a group of small FGP Topco shareholders demanded to sell their shares on the same terms under “tag-along rights”.

“Ardian and PIF have made a revised offer to acquire shares representing 37.62% of the share capital of FGP Topco” for £3.3 billion, Ferrovial stated, confirming its acceptance of the bid.

Following further negotiations, Ferrovial confirmed that Ardian would acquire approximately 22.6% of the shares, while PIF would take 15%.

Ferrovial, specialising in transport infrastructure management, operates a vast portfolio of global assets, including airport interests in Turkey and New York. Heathrow was not seen as a core asset by Ferrovial, which bought its stake in a 2006 takeover and initially held 56% before gradually reducing its interest.

Chaired by Rafael Del Pino, the third richest man in Spain with a fortune valued at £4.9 billion by Forbes, the group initially sought to sell its entire stake in FGP Topco.