IFT - Infratil

[Snow Leopard]

Infratil buy Kent International Airport

[Snow Leopard]

Kent International Airport.

This used to be RAF Manston and one of it's roles was to provide an airfield for aircraft in trouble to crash at.
If a plane full of tourists had a dodgy undercarriage etc then it was sent to Manston to spread itself all over tarmac there instead of bringing Heathrow to a halt, the RAF fire school was there to provide plenty of fireman to clear up the mess. I presume that this role has been dropped.
Anyway it is one of the reasons why the runway will cope with the biggest jets.

Infratil seem willing to invest GBP17m upfront and another GBP8m(?) in the near future on assets. I think that is a good buy if you have a fully functional civilian airport. Additionally they are expecting to lose upto GBP10m over four years before they turn a profit. Getting freight flights pronto in is a pretty useful idea.

Obviously they think they can do well in the long run out of this and I see it has a better use of money than a share buyback.
As a shareholder for the long term I certainly hope it works out well

[Toddy]

Paper Tiger

From a practical point of view, a couple of people flew out of Kent airport from my work last month on trips to Europe. They said that it was a great airport and are all for Infratil taking it forward.

Its all set up, just needs the right coy to take the next step.

[Binklebonk]

First thoughts are it sounds incredibly cheap to buy an asset like that in that location at that price.
Interesting the SP has dropped, I think it's because of the instant gratification factor as it will take a few years to generate income onto the bottom line, however they are a very good long term asset manager and have consistently added value at around 20% p.a which is pretty good.
They can probably leverage value based on their experience with Glasgow.

[CJ]

I wonder how far along they are with talks with Ryanair etc or whether they are gonig to focus on freight at the start.

Is IFT looking to become a specialist airport operator? This seems to be whether they are focusing their energy while raking in the cash from Trustpower.

[Dough Boy]

People may want to hold B Options in this one like I do.

I have switched from the shares to the B options recently (about 4 weeks ago bought at 91 cents) as they appear to provide a better long-term return and allow me to minmise the cash tied up in this investment.

At 96 cents and with conversion payment of 350 cents in 4 years and current SP of around 386 this translates to a low 3.7% gain per annum in the SP to break-even.

Something to consider for long-term holders (4-years) who want to minimize their cash investment with some fairly low risk leveraging.

[Toddy]

Austral Pacific.................. interesting from IFT.

IFT27/09/2005GENERAL REL: 1626 HRS Infratil Limited GENERAL: IFT: Infratil to Acquire 11% of Austral Pacific INFRATIL TO ACQUIRE 11% OF AUSTRAL PACIFICInfratil has acquired 2.456 million shares in a placement by the NZX listedcompany, Austral Pacific Energy Limited ("APX"). Infratil's total investmentis US$6.14 million. Infratil's shareholding in APX will be approximately11%. The placement price was US$2.50 per share (NZ$3.60).Infratil will also receive 1.228 million unlisted warrants as part of thisplacement. The warrants entitle the holder to acquire an additional share inAPX at US$3.50 per share anytime within the next year.APX is Infratil's first investment in the upstream New Zealand oil and gassector.Dr Bruce Harker, Executive Director of Morrison & Co said "APX provides someupstream exposure for Infratil to New Zealand's tight gas supply market. Ithas a number of prospective exploration opportunities, predominantly inTaranaki, and is well placed to grow its portfolio.APX is complementary to our existing energy portfolio, although we expect ourtotal upstream exposure to remain modest in relation to Infratil's totalinvestment in the energy sector, principally through TrustPower and EnergyDevelopments."

[Toddy]

Also very interesting given that IFT management have made conservative low risk investments in the past. Does IFT know something that we do not.

[kura]

As I recall their investment in (unsure of name ? Possibly "Energy Developments" ) was a looser for them, not sure if they are still holding or they have got out now. So following there picks is not a gauranteed strategy.

[Toddy]

Kura

Are you joking......... take a look at Energy Developments share price. (ENE on ASX)
IFT got that one 100% right.