The American industrial property giant AMB is competing with Britain’s two largest warehouse developers and an Australian-owned rival for control of warehouses and offices worth about £1.2 billion around Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

AMB Property’s interest in the sale of BAA’s Airport Property Partnership comes after the withdrawal of the leading bidder, Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec, the Canadian pension fund manager.

Other second-round bidders are Segro, the cash-rich FTSE 100 industrial developer formerly known as Slough Estates; Brixton, the FTSE 250 developer focused on the Heathrow area; and Goodman, a Sydney-quoted company that is already Britain’s largest owner of business parks.

Caisse de Dépôt was part of the Ferrovial-led consortium that bought BAA for £16.3 billion last year. It had a right of first refusal on Ferrovial’s half-share, but one source said: “The Canadians have not exercised their option.” The exit of Caisse de Dépôt - it can come back if second-round bids undercut first-round offers - means that the sale could be concluded this autumn.

Ferrovial, the Spanish construction giant, put its half-share in the UK airports fund up for sale in June to help to pay down debts accumulated from its takeover last year of BAA.

Ferrovial has already sold assets to help to manage the ballooning financing costs of the purchase, which soared to €903.1 million (£611 million) in the first half, up from €210.3 million in the same period a year ago.

Hermes, the pension fund manager. is known to be interested in buying the property stake, but it is not clear whether it has bid in the second round. It is also understood that Morley, the fund manager that owns the other half-share in the Airport Property Partnership with BAA, may enter sales negotiations at a later stage in the auction. Morley may offer to sell part or all of its share in the fund.

The jewel in the crown of the assets is the BA cargo centre at Heathrow, covering 400,000 sq ft and possibly worth £250 million. Ferrovial’s sell-off also includes BAA Lynton, BAA’s wholly owned property development unit. The combined value of the partnership fund and BAA Lynton is thought to have risen from about £1 billion before Christmas to nearly £1.2 billion. The fund carries about £400 million of debt.

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