|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||
Bikitsha's irrepressible spirit makes hi... Warrants give the small investor a line ... Income chasm divides rich and poo... A pre-October portfolio perusa... Decisive plan to get Airports Company sa... Africa struggles to regain lost groun... |
Decisive plan to get Airports Company sale off the ground
PRIVATISATION
TRANSPORT Minister Mac Maharaj has announced a plan to dispose of almost half of the Airports Company by the middle of next year, a move which will earn the government at least R1-billion. Disposal of 49% of the Airports Company, the state-owned company which controls nine major airports across the country, is dependent on legislative changes which he hoped would be effected timeously. Maharaj told a parliamentary committee meeting this week that government planned to dispose of part of its remaining 51% stake at a later stage through a public listing. He said the restructuring of the Airports Company would comprise four main elements. First, a foreign strategic equity partner would he partner will buy 20% with the option to increase its stake to 30% on listing. The partner, which could be a consortium, would be led by an airport operator and would be chosen by tender. Between 15 and 20 international companies were interested, including the British Airports Authority, Lockheed Martin AGI, Schiphol and the Malaysian Airports Authority. The second element would see 10% of shares placed with empowerment investors and the third would see 9% offered to management and employees. Finally, a 10% stake would be transferred to the National Empowerment Fund. Maharaj said the Airports Company needed a partner which was an experienced airport operator with knowledge of the non-aeronautical business. It would bring skills to develop and implement major expansion, uniform procedures and services, training and facilities, and help prepare the company to be listed. He said the sale should be completed by the end of March while the empowerment and employee transactions should be finalised by mid-June. Certain legislative changes were necessary. Airports Company CE Dirk Ackerman said the company reported a R159-million profit in the year to March. The profit improvement had relied on marked traffic growth. In the past financial year, traffic growth for domestic passengers was 8% and for international passengers 10%. This compared with international norms of 3% to 6%. Before it was commercialised, the Airports Company was reporting an accumulated loss of R58-million a year. Since then there had been a big improvement in its fortunes and service levels, said Ackerman. This was the first financial year it had paid a dividend - more than R36-million - to government, and there was a R140-million improvement in the company's asset value. Ackerman said there had been a 74% improvement in the profitability of its retail interests, but property would take time before producing adequate returns. "The challenge is to provide the infrastructure to meet traffic growth. We must move into a phase of big capital expenditure."
|
