Auckland International Airport says it's considering making a six-year retail bond offer of up to NZ$100 million.
The company said the bonds would be direct, unsecured, unsubordinated debt obligations of Auckland International Airport with a fixed interest rate to be announced before the issue opens.
"It is expected that full details of the offer will be released and the offer will open during October 2011," Auckland International Airport said.
BNZ is lead manager and Craigs Investment Partners co-manager.
International credit rating agency Standard & Poor's has given the bonds an A- rating, which is the same rating S&P has on Auckland Airport itself.
"When issued, the bonds (which are medium-term notes) will rank pari passu with other senior unsecured debt issued by Auckland International Airport," S&P said, "with proceeds expected to be used to partly refinance maturing debt in January 2012."
"The ratings on Auckland International Airport reflect our opinion of the company's natural-monopoly business; its diverse revenue stream, which we believe can mitigate the revenue impact of potential shocks to passenger demand; and the airport's trend of robust passenger demand. In our view, these strengths are partly offset by Auckland International Airport's 'intermediate' financial risk profile and our expectations of the company's continued high shareholder distributions."
Auckland International Airport's planned bond issue follows two recent highly successful retail bond issues from high profile companies in Z Energy and Air New Zealand.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment.
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.