Spanish infrastructure giant Ferrovial, which manages London's Heathrow airport, said Tuesday it will move its international holdings from Britain to Amsterdam because of Brexit. "The reason for the move is to maintain these holdings under the umbrella of the EU's legislation," a Ferrovial spokesman told AFP, confirming Spanish media reports.
Ferrovial has four international holdings based in Oxford: airports division Ferrovial Aeropuertos Internacional; construction division Agroman International; toll road division Cintra Global; and insfrastructure division Ferrovial Services International.
The rest of the company's operations in Britain will "remain exactly the same", the spokesman said, adding the move of the international holdings to the Netherlands was "underway". In Britain Ferrovial manages airports in Glasgow and Aberdeen in Scotland, as well as Southampton airport in southern England, in addition to Heathrow.
Ferrovial's announcement comes a day after Britain's parliament approved the construction of a third runway at Heathrow airport for an estimated cost of £14 billion (15.9 billion euros, $18.5 billion). Over 75 million passengers pass through Heathrow each year, making it Europe's busiest airport.
Ferrovial's announcement highlights the concerns which multinational firms have over the impact which Britain's looming exit from the European Union will have on their operations. British Prime Minister Theresa May is about to enter into the next round of negotiations with EU counterparts, but her team is still to define exactly what it wants from Britain's future relationship with the continent, particularly in the area of customs regulation.
Several financial companies have warned for months that they would move some activities from Britian to continental Europe because of Brexit. Aviation giant Airbus and German automaker BMW have warned they could pull out of Britain if it leaves the European Union without a deal.
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