Auckland Airport share trading halted as Auckland Council moves to sell remaining stake

Auckland International Airport

03/12/2024 22:10

Dec 4 (Reuters) - Trading in the shares of Auckland
International Airport  AIA.NZ  was halted on Wednesday after the
airport operator said it was notified that Auckland Council had
started a process to sell its remaining 9.71% stake in the
company.
    "Auckland Future Fund Trustee Limited has invited a
relatively large group of brokers to submit offers for a parcel
of 163,231,446 shares in Auckland Airport," the company said in
a filing to the New Zealand stock exchange.
    Based on Auckland Airport's closing price of NZ$8.08 on
Tuesday, the stake is worth about NZ$1.32 billion ($776.03
million).
    Last year, Auckland Council lowered its stake in the airport
operator by about 7% after selling shares worth NZ$835.9
million.
    "We believe that the stake sale could be seen as a clearing
event for investors to focus more on the operating and
fundamental outlook for Auckland Airport," Citi analysts said.

 ($1 = 1.7010 New Zealand dollars)

 (Reporting by Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak
Dasgupta)
 ((Himanshi.Akhand@thomsonreuters.com))