WCC to sell more of Wellington Airport
December 1st, 2008 at 8:52 am by David FarrarWellington City Council is looking to sell 8% of Wellington Airport, reducing its shareholding from 34% to 26%.
A good move, as it allows the Council to still block special resolutions, but frees up capital for debt repayment.
Related posts:
- Auckland Airport Shares
- Wellington Airport
- Wellington Airport CEO moves on
- Why Councils should not own airport companies
December 1st, 2008 at 8:59 am
now that Labour has gone, can those evil Canadians buy in?
Vote:December 1st, 2008 at 9:25 am
Rubbish DPF, It doesn’t free up debt for repayment.
Vote:It gives them more wiggle room to spend more on indoor stadiums.
I’m very surprised even you didn’t see that.
The shareholding is making us a profit, leave it alone, better still lets make more and reduce rates !
December 1st, 2008 at 9:31 am
A curious time to sell cash cows (when the sharemarket is tanking) and interest rates are falling.
Or is the WCC having some funding issues and needs the cash…perhaps tightening the belt on spending may be in order.
Vote:December 1st, 2008 at 10:10 am
Yes, expat; are you familiar with what Owen McShane has been saying about Councils finances lately?
Basically, they have been on a series of rorts which are in the process of collapsing right now. One is “development fees”; having strangled the supply of land for development, they have then cashed in on the resulting speculative bubble with demands for extortatory fees for “infrastructure” and so on.
This revenue stream has of course now dried up.
Another goodie; all the funding they get from petrol tax revenue, to cover the horrendous operating losses of public transport. There has been a drop in driving cars and an increase in public transport use – well, that’s what they wanted, wasn’t it? Ah, be careful what you wish for, now they have less subsidies from revenues levied on motorists, and an increased strain on public transport infrastructure that was already cracking up.
Local government is one of the last bastions of wastage of public money without having been touched by any reform agendas at any time. There is nothing like a full-on economic crisis to bring all chickens home to roost.
Vote:December 1st, 2008 at 10:33 am
And meanwhile in the UK, the Govt. has reduced VAT/GST on those evil SUV’s that have been killing the planet with Co2 since the age of the dinosaurs.
Public Transport has all but collapsed under the pressure of the peasants actually using the service.
There are still plans for another London Airport. So a but more opportunity for greedy Gordon to tax travellers!
They just don’t care about the environment!
Vote:December 1st, 2008 at 11:06 am
WIAL still has excessive landing charges (and AirNZ has them in court defending recent increases?). They rely on Wgtn geographic position and capital city status to fleece travelers ergo Wgtn residents can’t benefit from discount airlines as they refuse to fly here.
Vote:December 1st, 2008 at 11:16 am
Serious mistake by Queen Kerry I think. If she kept a bigger shareholding she might be able to push through a departure tax on passengers flying to other NZ airports starting at say $50 to Paraparaumu rising to say $500 for Kaitaia/Invercargill.
Vote:No tax on overseas flights of course would not want to affect foreign tourists. She could then build as many monuments to her glorious reign as her greedy little heart desires. There may even be some left to pay for her share of transmission gully.
December 1st, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Sounds like the swill in the trough is getting lower. Shit, it will be survival of the fittest soon, how sad never mind.
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