Toronto airport said worth USD3.7b

Canada is considering the sale of at least a minority stake in Toronto Pearson International Airport that values the country’s busiest airport at about C$5 billion (USD3.7 billion), according to people familiar with the matter.

The stake sale, just one of many options laid out in a report to government prepared by Credit Suisse Group AG, would free up billions of dollars for new infrastructure projects, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

A federal advisory panel recommended last year the government look at selling its airports, and the C.D. Howe Institute estimates privatization of the country’s eight major airports could rake in between C$7 billion and C$17 billion, with Pearson alone fetching as much as C$6 billion. Selling the airports would cut costs for travelers and create opportunities for more shops and services, the non-partisan research institute said.

“The subject is still being studied and no decision has been taken,” Marc Roy, a spokesman for Transport Minister Marc Garneau, one of the lawmakers overseeing the consideration of privatization. “We won’t comment on any rumors.” The government has so far declined to release the Credit Suisse report.

Selling slightly less than half of Pearson would be the easiest of several scenarios Credit Suisse presented to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government in a report last year, according to the people. That scenario would allow the government to retain control of the airport while raising billions for other projects.

Sam Pollock, the head of Brookfield Asset Management Inc.’s infrastructure group, has said there would be a “feeding frenzy” among institutional investors if airports were put up for sale. Bloomberg