Allianz and Borealis Infrastructure eye London City Airport - source

By Alexander Hübner (Reuters) - German insurer Allianz SE has joined Borealis Infrastructure, which manages investments for Canada's Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement Systems, to explore a bid for London City Airport, a source familiar with the process said. "Allianz is looking at a bid for the City Airport, and they know Borealis very well from other bids so it's a logical step for teaming up here", the source told Reuters. The news was first reported by the Telegraph, which said earlier this month that another Canadian pension fund, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, has partnered with the sovereign wealth fund of Kuwait and Hermes Investment Management to submit an offer to the airport. Australia's Macquarie Group Ltd is also thought to be looking at a consortium bid, the newspaper has reported. Earlier this month, London City Airport's owners picked Credit Suisse to advise them on a potential sale, which could value the business at as much as 2 billion pounds. Allianz had no comment while Borealis, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Hermes and Macquarie could not immediately be reached for comment. The airport is majority-owned by U.S. fund Global Infrastructure Partners, which said a few weeks ago that the airport could be sold as soon as this year. (Reporting by Alexander Hubner in Frankfurt; Additional reporting by Amran Abocar in Toronto and Rama Venkat Raman in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler)