Investment bank UBS has been hired to sell a 9.14 per cent in Perth Airport in a deal that could be worth up to $700m.
The sellers are The Infrastructure Fund, which is managed by Macquarie and owns 7.19 per cent of the airport, and Australian Retirement Trust, which has 1.95 per cent.
Stakes in two other airports are also on offer, taking the total value of airports up for grabs to at least $3.5bn. Auckland Council is selling down its 7 per cent holding in Auckland Airport, while infrastructure investor Igneo is selling half of its 25 per cent interest in Brisbane Airport through Macquarie Capital in a deal that could be worth $1bn.
Meanwhile, Barrenjoey has been running a scoping study on Queensland airports and is now mandated to sell a stake in Queensland Airport Ltd.
Australian Retirement Trust, The Infrastructure Fund and State Super, which own a combined 40 per cent, are offloading interests in QAL, which owns Gold Coast, Townsville, Mount Isa and Longreach airports. That deal is also expected to be worth $1bn or more.
Perth Airport is the fourth-busiest airport in Australia for passenger traffic, and operates around the clock.
In 2018 and 2019, almost 15 million passengers travelled through Perth Airport each year, compared to just 5.8 million in the 2021 financial year when Covid-19 grounded planes.
The 2105ha airport site has expansion capacity for projected aviation demands for at least the next 40 years.
Utilities Trust of Australia owns 38.26 per cent, Future Fund 30.01 per cent, the Utilities of Australia Perth Airport Property Fund 17.34 per cent and AustralianSuper 5.25 per cent.
From July 2022 to March 2023 the airport hosted 10.4 million passengers.
Super funds are looking to cash out of airport assets as travel numbers have soared in the past year. They fear they are too exposed to airport assets.
But with three airport assets on the market, the question is which group launches its sale process first and who will be the buyers.
Predictions are that if existing airport investors do not exercise pre-emptive rights to buy more of the airports first, financial investors will line up, including Aware Super, Dexus, which now owns the AMP infrastructure business, or the Future Fund.
When Hobart Airport was on the market in 2019, Dutch investor Schiphol purchased an interest with Queensland Investment Corp.
As well as being an owner of Amsterdam Airport, Schiphol owns an 18.7 per cent stake in Brisbane Airport, while QIC is also a shareholder.
Meanwhile, Auckland Council, advised by Flagstaff, is understood to have appointed a panel of investment banks for a 7 per cent selldown in Auckland Airport.
UBS was hired to find a strategic buyer in the $11.29bn asset, listed in Australia and New Zealand, but a block trade is now expected by one of the investment banks on the panel, which include Macquarie Capital, UBS and Jarden. Citi was excluded from the beauty parade to select a bank because it has worked for Auckland Airport.
One theory is that the stake will be offloaded in parts rather than in one line and at a discount of between 2 and 5 per cent to its trading price.
While some believe that a trade is imminent, others say it is likely to happen after the group reports on August 24.
The sale is part of the council’s move to pay down debt and will leave it with a holding in the airport of 11.09 per cent.
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