Auckland Airport Board Ends Discussions With CPPIB

Auckland International Airport has announced that discussions with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in relation to a proposal for the latter to acquire a significant interest in Auckland Airport have ceased.

A majority of directors of Auckland Airport do not believe that pursuing the proposal with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) would be in the best interests of shareholders or the company and therefore will not be recommending the proposed transaction.

John Maasland, chairman of the board of Auckland Airport, said the proposal would have involved an amalgamation and the creation of a newly listed airport company. Under the deal CPPIB would have owned between 39% and 49% of this new company.

Mr Maasland said: “If the amalgamation proposal went ahead existing Auckland Airport shareholders would have retained between 51% and 61% of the new company and maintained an investment in the restructured company. The board needed to be certain it was a proposal we would recommend and, on that basis, we needed to consider a range of related factors.

“After serious consideration of all of these matters the majority of directors have formed the view that the proposal would introduce an unacceptable increase in risk which would most likely impact the long-term value and prospects of the company in the future.”