Northern Irish developer Adam Armstrong has joined the race to buy Leeds Bradford airport, which is expected to sell for more than £100 million (€147.7 million).
The Gibraltar-based tycoon, whose recent purchases include three Dublin bingo halls, hopes to add Leeds Bradford to his existing portfolio of British airports - at Blackpool and Wolverhampton.
Mr Armstrong's Mar Properties, which has just appointed former Belfast director of IBI Corporate Finance Robin Horner as its chief executive, entered the first stage of the EU tendering process for the sale of Leeds Bradford airport. Mar's rivals in the competition are expected to include: Arbertis, owner of Luton airport; Balfour Beatty, part of a consortium that just bought Exeter airport; and Save, the Italian owner of Marco Polo airport in Venice.
Another possible contender for Leeds Bradford is Ferrovial, which bought Belfast city airport two years ago and is in acquisitive mode.
The bid for Leeds Bradford comes after Mr Armstrong earlier this year bought out his fellow shareholder in Blackpool airport, which the Cityhopper consortium bought along with Wolverhampton airport in 2004 for €19 million.
The Blackpool deal was partly a property play, as the airport sits on 500 acres, but Mr Armstrong has also been trying to develop traffic and announced a refurbishment of the airport at the same time as he increased his stake.
Airports are only one of the many strings to Mr Armstrong's bow. Last month, his Lagmar joint venture with Northern Ireland's Lagan Group sold the Anglia Square Shopping Centre in Norwich, clearing a profit of £11 million in nine months.
Mr Armstrong has embarked on a number of other British joint ventures with Lagan, including paying £74 million in October for the Vicarage Fields shopping centre near Barking, Essex.
Closer to home, Mr Armstrong this year bought Northern Ireland's Carmichael pub group, whose eight pubs include the Hillside Inn in Hillsborough. The acquisition was Northern Ireland's biggest pub deal of 2006.
Mar is involved in a number of major development projects in Northern Ireland, including the regeneration of Bangor town centre and waterfront.
In September, Mr Armstrong bought bingo halls in Cabra, Whitehall and Crumlin in Dublin for €18.5 million in a sale and leaseback deal.
The bingo halls are being operated by Futter Management Services, owned by well-known Irish racing punter Mike Futter.
