British Airways (BA) has joined with TPG Capital, Vista Capital, Inversiones Ibersuizas and Quercus Equity in a consortium which is considering a bid for a large stake in Spanish airline Iberia.

Iberia is Europe's fourth largest airline, but BA – which already owns 10% of Iberia has stated that the consortium is only window shopping at present.
This latest interest in the Spanish carrier follows an earlier unsuccessful $4.6bn bid by TPG to buy Iberia, which has an attractive route network to South America in particular. Whether the authorities in Spain will allow more than 50% of the airline to be held by non-Spanish interests is a key question however.
German flag carrier Lufthansa has already shown interest in acquiring Iberia and Apax, another private equity business is also said to be interested.