BAA sells Gatwick for £1.5 billion

Luggage trolleys bearing the BAA logo are seen at Gatwick Airport in this August 20, 2008 file photograph.

LONDON (Reuters) - BAA has sold Gatwick airport to a consortium led by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) which already owns London Citi Airport for 1.5 billion pounds.

BAA, majority owned by Spanish infrastructure company Grupo Ferrovial SA (FER.MC), was ordered by the Competition Commission in March to sell London's Gatwick and Stansted, as well as either Edinburgh or Glasgow.

The consortium, led by GIP and founded by Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) and General Electric (GE.N), was widely seen as front runner in the bidding, and already had a bid for the airport spurned by BAA, sources told Reuters in May.

The deal comes as BAA puts forward its appeal against the Competition Commission ruling at a hearing in London.

(Reporting by Ben Deighton; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)