KEY POINTS:
Auckland councils have flexed their muscle to help install a new look board at Auckland International Airport.
Auckland City and Manukau City have used their 23 per cent stake to ensure the election of their two nominees Richard Didsbury and John Brabazon and back Infratil chief executive Lloyd Morrison.
The councils have been frustrated at their lack of influence on the board and what they describe as being taken for granted.
Didsbury got support of 90 per cent of shareholders, Brabazon 74 per cent and Lloyd Morrison nearly 83 per cent.
Incumbent director Joan Withers, who was up for re-election, was returned by 63 per cent of shareholders who voted.
The election, at a marathon two and half hour meeting at the Ellerslie Event Centre, is a sign of shareholder discontent with how the existing board has handled takeover offers. The board backed an offer from Dubai Aerospace Enterprise in July which did not fly because of political opposition and then rejected an offer from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board which led to some shareholder anger at not being given the time to consider it.
The CPP is now taking a revised offer directly to shareholders.
Shareholders also approved an increase of $490,000 to the total pool of directors' fees, taking the total of annual directors' fees from $660,000 to $1,150,000. This increase provides for a full complement of eight directors in accordance with the company's constitution.
-NZ HERALD STAFF
