Auckland Airport share trading halted as Auckland Council moves to sell remaining stake

Trading in the shares of Auckland International Airport was halted on Wednesday after the airport operator said it was notified that Auckland Council had started a process to sell its remaining 9.71% stake in the company. "Auckland Future Fund Trustee Limited has invited a relatively large group of brokers to submit offers for a parcel of 163,231,446 shares in Auckland Airport," the company said in a filing to the New Zealand stock exchange. Based on Auckland Airport's closing price of NZ$8.08 on Tuesday, the stake is worth about NZ$1.32b ($776.03m). Last year, Auckland Council lowered its stake in the airport operator by about 7% after selling shares worth NZ$835.9m. "We believe that the stake sale could be seen as a clearing event for investors to focus more on the operating and fundamental outlook for Auckland Airport," Citi analysts said.<br/>