BIL pockets $96m for Air NZ stake - at 14pc discount price

By PAUL PANCKHURST

Singapore company BIL International's 7.8 per cent stake in Air New Zealand fetched $96 million in the 24-hour bookbuild by Goldman Sachs JBWere.

The price - 42c a share - was at a 14 per cent discount to the share's closing price on Wednesday.

Trading in the stock on the sharemarket will resume today after a one-day halt.

Goldman Sachs was last night finalising allocations to a broad range of local and international investors.

BIL's stake was the second-largest in the airline. The Government has 74 per cent.

BIL chief executive Arun Amarsi, interviewed by the Straits Times in Singapore, said the company was exiting Air New Zealand because it was a passive investment.

"We are not on the board. We are not actively involved."

He did not explain why BIL had not sold when prices were higher.

An Air New Zealand spokesman said the 2001 bail-out deal in which the Government injected $885 million into the company had not prevented BIL selling earlier.

Singapore Airlines has a 6.5 per cent stake.

The airline told news services that it had no plans to sell "at this point in time" but would review its position in light of BIL's move.