BAA Limited is the owner and operator of seven British airports and the operator of several other airports worldwide, making the company one of the largest transport companies in the world. BAA stems from British Airports Authority and it is owned by Grupo Ferrovial, a Spanish firm specialising in infrastructure.The disposal of the second largest UK airport will begin with the issuing of an information memorandum to potential bidders and a timetable for the sale, which is expected to call for first indicative bids in the third week of January.Final binding bids could be required by late March but the timing is still openFollowing a list of possible bidders is showed:

1. Manchester Airports Group PLC is working with Borealis Infrastructure, advised by Goldman Sachs (GS) and Dresdner Kleinwort.
2. Rreef Alternative Investments, Deutsche Bank AG's (DB) alternative investment management arm, is bidding jointly with another alternative asset manager, Babcock & Brown (BCM.AU).
3. Rothschild Group and Macquarie (MGQ.AU) are advising 3i group PLC (III.LN), Ontario Teachers' pension fund and Canada Pension Plan on another possible bid.
4. Citigroup Inc.'s (C) infrastructure fund is leading another bidding group that includes Canada's Vancouver airport, which is taking advice from Spain's Banco Santander SA (SAN.MC) and BBVA (BBV).
5. Global Infrastructure Partners, a joint venture between Credit Suisse Group ( CS) and General Electric Co. (GE) is leading another group.
6. German construction company Hochtief AG (HOT.XE) has indicated interest in the BAA airports in the past, although it is unclear which group it will join if any, one person said.
7. Virgin Atlantic and possibly easyJet have reportedly teamed up together in a consortium for a bid.
8. Spanish press cited in the past that Abertis could also bid for the airport.

What will be the sale price?It was revealed that passenger numbers at the airport in November were down 13.5 per cent on the same month last year. Aviation analysts have valued Gatwick at up to £2bn. But competition and the current credit cruch have a lot to say in the sale price actually.It is important to point out also that Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS.LN) and HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC) are jointly advising BAA in the process.This sale is likely to be very turbulent ad here you will find all the information related to it so stay tuned.