The owner of Durham Tees Valley airport, the Peel Group, has denied that it is trying to sell its air division, but is has neither confirmed nor denied that it was in negotiations on Monday night.
Earlier this month, reports emerged that Peel was in talks with Vancouver Airport Services over the firm taking a possible stake in the air business. There were further negotiations earlier this week, just after it was discovered that Peel was part of a consortium that bid £612 million for Forth Ports last week.
Despite the new information, Peel denies it is trying to sell off its airports business to pay for an expansion of its ports division. However it admits that it is seeking a co-investor in the airport.
Now, new reports claim that Peel is looking to offload its airports division to raise an extra £200 million to allow the consortium to submit an even higher bid for Forth Ports.
In response to the rumours, Peel released a statement reiterating its earlier stance: “any speculation that the Peel Airports Group, or any of the Group Airports, has been sold or is for sale is wrong”.
