KEY POINTS:
Somewhere in the middle of Canada Pension Plan's sales pitch on Monday, the story started to sound like a familiar old fable.
CPP believes it will win the race for Auckland Airport by setting a slow steady pace, ignoring speedier, more aggressive rivals and staying focused on the
finish line.
"I don't know if we're a tortoise or a hare but we try not to make mistakes," said CPP's Mark Wiseman, when confronted with the analogy.
But CPP is the tortoise - or at least wants the Auckland and Manukau councils and the wider New Zealand public to see them that way.
Wiseman was keen to emphasise that CPP has been working on this deal for more than 10 months, that it understands New Zealand fears about foreign ownership and that it doesn't have any radical strategies for the airport.
"Our attitude to making an acquisition is similar to our attitude on investing. We take a long term patient view, we are extremely careful on due diligence. We don't act rashly," he said.
Dubai Aerospace, on the other hand, appears to be an organisation in a hurry - it has only existed for about 10 months. It raced past CPP in July to beat it to a deal with the airport board and get a proposal out to the public.
Unfortunately, it was moving so fast it couldn't see where it was headed - right into a storm of public and political disapproval.
That initial DAE deal is dead - whether it cares enough to try again remains to be seen. There has been some talk that it might make an on market cash bid.
Given the reception DAE got for its friendly approach, a hostile takeover play isn't likely to be well received. But money talks and DAE has plenty.
And while there may have been some unsavoury examples of xenophobia surrounding the DAE proposal, there is also an extent to which its dynamic management team were perceived as a bit too racy and adventurous for the local appetites.
In fact, the same reasons that DAE appealed to the Auckland Airport board look like the reasons it didn't appeal to the conservative council stakeholders.
Conversely, the councils seems to be warming to CPP's minority proposal - even though it may still load the airport with similar debt levels.
CPP is offering stability and a 30- year investment view, which is more in line with current council thinking. It is not planning expansionary risks such as investing in foreign airports.
But CPP doesn't look to be offering much else that would appeal to the airport board.
CPP won't care about that. It has identified that there is no love lost between the board and the councils. It's council support that this deal hangs on and it is the councils they've dealt with.
The provisions Auckland City voted in to its 10-year plan on Monday night - to allow the possible restructuring of its shareholding - fit all too neatly into the framework that CPP proposes.
If CPP can bring the councils on board it will be a significant victory.
The onus will then go on it to sell its proposal to the more market sensitive investors who were no doubt sad to see DAE and its $3.80 a share depart.
That means CPP will need to be offering enough cash for plenty of investors to exit profitably.
Not everyone out there is going to be so keen to climb on board the tortoise for a slow and steady, 30-year ride.
