Manchester Airports Group (MAG) priced a £300 million, 22-year bond with an annual coupon of 2.875% and order book that was more than three times oversubscribed at around £1 billion.

MAG owns and operates Manchester, London Stansted, East Midlands and Bournemouth airports and is privately managed on behalf of its shareholders — IFM Investors (35.5%), Manchester City Council (35.5%) and nine other Greater Manchester councils (29%).

MAG will use the proceeds of the bond to fund capital investment programmes at Manchester and Stansted Airports.

MAG chief financial officer Neil Thompson said: “The success of the bond is a testament to the strong financial performance of the group over the past three years, which has delivered over 40% earnings growth, and demonstrates the confidence of a wide number of UK and international blue-chip investors in MAG’s future growth strategy.

“Manchester and London Stansted airports both provide vital international connectivity for the UK with the group operating routes to over 280 destinations.

“Our plans for significant investment at Manchester and Stansted will not only improve the experience for passengers and airlines using our airports but also provide the foundations to unlock their significant future growth potential.”

MAG mandated NatWest Markets as arranger and bookrunner on the transaction, alongside Barclays and BNP Paribas who also acted as bookrunners.

Co-managers were CIBC, Handelsbanken, MUFG and NAB.

In July, MAG said its revenue rose 7.7% to £838.4 million and operating profit before significant items rose 9.1% to £210.2 million in the 12 months ended March 31, 2017.