NEW ZEALAND. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s (CPPIB) offer for a 40% stake in Auckland International Airport Limited (AIAL) closes on Thursday this week, and shareholders are taking up position as the deadline nears.
Manukau City Council, which holds 10.05% of the airport’s shares, rejected the offer, saying it preferred to remain a long-term stakeholder.
But infrastructure and airports investor Infratil Ltd said it planned to vote in favour of the deal and accept the offer for its shares. Infratil, which holds around 3.2% of the shares and had previously opposed the offer, said its decision follows CPPIB’s concession on Monday to limit its voting power in the event of successfully gaining a 40% stake in the airport.
CPPIB said yesterday it would limit its voting rights to 24.9%. That means it should no longer need Overseas Investment Commission approval, circumventing the government’s right to veto the deal. As reported, last week ministers announced plans to impose a foreign ownership control test on the country’s “major strategic assets”, a move that was prompted by the CPPIB offer.
Auckland Airport shareholders are required to make two decisions – whether to sell their shares into the offer, and whether to vote for or against CPPIB becoming a 40% shareholder.
Late last month the AIAL directors unanimously recommended that shareholders should sell their shares into the takeover offer for NZ$3.6555 per share (less the 5.75 cents per share interim dividend to be paid this month). Their revised position followed the fall in global and national share prices which made the CPPIB offer more attractive. However they were divided as to whether shareholders should vote in favour of CPPIB acquiring up to 40% of the company.
As of Monday this week, CPPIB still remains well short of the required number of acceptances from shareholders to close the deal.
CPPIB needs 39.2% acceptances from shareholders and a majority vote by 13 March in order to complete the transaction. But as of 10 March, acceptances had been lodged for 250,790,036 shares, representing 20.52% of the total shares in the company.
Some 234,786,580 shareholder votes, representing 19.21% of the total shares in the company, have also been received. Of the votes received to date, 32.61% are against CPPIB acquiring a 40% stake and 67.39% are in favour of the offer.
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