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Macquarie Bank eyeing CKS airport investment: report

Macquarie Bank Ltd, Australia's largest investment bank, is reportedly planning to invest in CKS International Airport, in a deal that would mark the first sale of national infrastructure to an overseas investor, if it materializes.

The bank's intention to acquire CKS airport for about NT$100 billion (US$2.96 billion) to NT$200 billion and Taipei City's public parking lots for between NT$10 billion and NT$20 billion, was first reported by a Chinese-language newspaper yesterday, citing Wu Ching-mai (吳清邁), head of Macquarie Bank's Taiwan branch.

Wu and his colleagues at the Taipei office declined to confirm or deny the story yesterday.

The Australian investment bank is interested in buying assets in Taiwan, and would leverage the assets to issue securitization products, such as real estate asset trusts, to be traded in Taiwan, the report quoted Wu as saying.

To pave the way of this investment, Nicholas Moore, head of Macquarie Bank's investment banking group, may meet with Vice Premier Wu Rong-I (吳榮義) tomorrow to express the bank's intention to buy the airport, the report added.

In October, Macquarie suggested to the government that it lease out the operation of the nation's Sun Yat-sen Freeway to private companies for 20 years. Doing so would garner it more than NT$200 billion in revenue, according to the bank.

The investment bank has been aggressively acquiring infrastructure worldwide lately. The European Commission last week approved Macquarie's acquisition of Denmark's Copenhagen Airports AS, which holds interests in airports in Europe and globally.

Meanwhile, the Civil Aeronautics Administration is evaluating outsourcing the operation of all its airports to the private sector, including CKS airport, said George Lee (李仲榮), deputy director-general of the administration.

"We need to see if having private companies to run the airports would be better than current operations," Lee said.

Of the 18 government-run airports in Taiwan, only CKS airport is making money, prompting the administration to mull measures to boost revenues, Lee said.

CKS airport reported sales of NT$11.8 billion last year, Lee said. After deducting outlays of about NT$7 billion, the remainder was mainly used to support the operations of other airports, he said.

The evaluation report will be released soon, Lee said, adding that the administration has not discussed whether foreign companies will be allowed to be candidates for the operators or not.

Even if the evaluation favors outsourcing airport operations to private companies, the administration will need to draft an amendment to the Civil Aviation Law (民用航空法), which requires the approval of the legislature, Lee said.
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