KEY POINTS:
Early voting has swung firmly behind the Canadian bid for Auckland International Airport.
Latest figures show that of the shareholders who have returned their voting forms in the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's partial takeover bid, 65 per cent favour the offer.
Shareholders must decide whether they want to sell their shares into the offer and vote for or against the bid, which closes at 5pm next Thursday, March 13.
CPPIB has offered $3.6555 per share, which reduces to $3.5980 as a result of a 5.75 cents per share interim dividend being paid later this month. For the transaction to proceed, the Takeovers Code requires a majority of shareholders who vote to approve CPPIB's acquiring a 40 per cent stake.
One analyst said the figures reflected unusually early voting from institutions which support the offer in the hope they can sway small retail investors who hold up to 30 per cent of the company and are increasingly seen as pivotal.
Institutions and tracker funds which favour the deal hold nearly 40 per cent, according to one estimate.
The Auckland City Council and Manukau City Council, with nearly 23 per cent of the company between them, will meet in the two days before the deadline but will almost certainly vote against the deal. Infratil and the Super Fund with about 9 per cent have opposed the offer.
Last Monday the airport's board changed tack and unanimously recommended that shareholders sell their shares to benefit from an above-market price if the deal does go ahead but by a majority recommended they vote against it.
The Canadians suffered a setback later that day when the Government said it would retrospectively close a tax loophole at the core of their amalgamation proposal.
Auckland Airport's share price was in a holding pattern yesterday, closing unchanged at $2.48.
