KEY POINTS:
Auckland International Airport shares soared yesterday on news that Australian investment bank Macquarie tried to buy stock from institutional investors.
Airport shares spiked at $2.82 before trading back to close 3c up at $2.69.
But the market is not expecting a takeover offer by Macquarie. The share price rise was driven in part by a report in the Business Herald which highlighted the attempts by Macquarie to buy stock from local institutions last week, brokers said.
In a statement to the stock exchange, airport management said they had not received any offers or any approach from potential buyers.
The statement acknowledged that the company's stock had surged 16 per cent in the past two weeks and noted the Business Herald report.
Mick Carolan, Macquarie Bank's head of institutional sales in Auckland, declined to comment.
The big question was why Macquarie was looking for stock and whether it was just to put in a portfolio or whether it had bigger ambitions, said Bryon Burke, a broker at ABN Amro Craigs.
The former scenario seemed more likely than a takeover play which would be hampered by the strategic stakes of Auckland City and Manukau City, he said.
Between them they own about 23 per cent and neither is a likely seller under the current political regime.
"I guess it shows just how thin the New Zealand market is that you can't just ring around a few people and get some stock," Burke said. "A few people is the market."
It was likely that those buying attempts had fuelled speculation which then started to feed on itself, he said.
Some retail investors had been profit-taking yesterday, allowing speculators to buy in, Burke said.
But the big institutions would almost certainly be holding on to their stock, he said.
ASB Securities' Stephen Wright said he was taking the speculation at face value. There was the Macquarie angle and there was also talk of Auckland Airport spinning off its property business as a way to take advantage of upcoming tax changes, he said.
Macquarie might simply be building a 10 per cent stake to throw in to its airport fund.
Wright said he would continue to recommend Auckland Airport to investors as a quality infrastructure stock with an effective monopoly.
ASX-listed Macquarie Airports owns Sydney Airport and holds strategic stakes in a number of others including Brussels, Rome, Copenhagen, Birmingham and Bristol. In the case of Birmingham, Copenhagen and Brussels airports, the company has been comfortable taking stakes alongside either local or central governments.
Climbing
*Auckland Airport shares have surged 16 per cent in two weeks.
*Management says it has received no offers from potential buyers.
*Macquarie Bank is understood to have been approaching New Zealand institutions about buying stock.
*Auckland City owns a 13 per cent stake and Manukau City 10 per cent, making a full takeover bid unlikely.
