Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago last Thursday cancelled a deal to lease the Midway Airport. The reason for such cancellation was that one of the two bidders have dropped out, according to the Mayor's spokeswoman.

The two major participants in the bidding for Chicago's second largest airport was the consortium of Macquarie Group Ltd and Ferrovial SA while the other is Industry Funds Management and Manchester Airport Group Plc. The latter consortium had dropped out of the race for conflicts regarding the valuation of the agreement.

According to an anonymous source, the consortium 'looked at the revenues, lookes at the costs and it wasn't working.' With the withdrawal, only the Macquarie/Ferrovial Group remained in the running for the bid.

For its part, a Macquarie spokesperson refused to make any comment while Ferrovial, IFM and Manchester could not be reached for their comment or reaction.

The Mayor's spokeswoman, Sarah Hamilton, said that the city had placed 'a high bar' as standard for taxpayer protection in the deal, such as a short term for the lease and provisions for revenue sharing.