Heathrow shareholders will sell an additional 35 per cent of the airport's holding company after Saudi Arabian and French investors last year agreed to buy a stake in the west London transport hub.
Ferrovial, a Spanish infrastructure company, reached an agreement two months ago to sell its 25 per cent stake for $3 billion to Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Ardian, a French-based private equity firm.
That deal remains in force, but it is a condition of the sale that the other shares are also sold, Ferrovial said in statement quoted by Bloomberg.
The so-called “tag along rights” entitle other investors in the airport to sell their shares at the same price as Ferrovial.
Shareholders accounting for an added 35 per cent of Heathrow’s parent company plan to join Ferrovial in the stake sale, the Spanish infrastructure firm said.
The announcement means that more than half of the ownership interest in Europe's busiest airport is set to change hands in the coming months.
The PIF was originally set to buy a 10 per cent stake in Heathrow’s parent, and Ardian to take a 15 per cent stake, for a total of £2.37 billion ($3 billion).
The Saudi Arabian wealth fund intends to stay at 10 per cent while Ardian is considering buying more, according to reports.
Qatar Investment Authority currently owns a 20 per cent stake in Heathrow.
Other investors include Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Singapore’s GIC sovereign wealth fund, and Alinda Capital Partners of the US.
Representatives for Ferrovial and Heathrow declined to identify potential buyers. Ardian and PIF declined to comment.
Earlier this month, Heathrow bosses said the air terminal recorded its busiest ever December, with 6.7 million passengers.
Heathrow also announced that passenger numbers grew by 29 per cent last year to reach 79.2 million.
Across the year as a whole, the market with the biggest increase in passenger numbers was Asia/Pacific, up 76 per cent compared with 2022.
CREW
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Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
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Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
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Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Manchester United v Young Boys, Tuesday, midnight (UAE)
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The years Ramadan fell in May
