Perth Airport investor TIF revs up to sell 7.19pc stake; UBS hired
Macquarie-managed The Infrastructure Fund has ordered a strategic review of its 7.19 per cent stake in Perth Airport as it looks to take profits after the airport returned to pre-pandemic passenger volumes in February.
Perth Airport is the fourth-largest airport in the country. Paul Kane
It is understood that TIF’s potential sell-down at Perth Airport via the strategic review being run by UBS comes amid a broader portfolio rebalance. Nearly half of its assets are invested in airports, and it hasalready agreed to trim its stake in Queensland Airport Limited, which has 40 per cent up for grabs via Barrenjoey.
Perth Airport is the fourth-busiest in the country and enjoys an enviable market positioning, with nearly 93 per cent of travellers to Western Australia choosing air travel over other means of transports. About 15 million passengers used it annually before pandemic-triggered lockdowns, and demand is understood to have rebounded to 2018-2019 levels in February 2023.
Interstate travel was at nearly 100 per cent of pre-pandemic volumes, while demand from fly-in-fly-out workers in WA’s extensive resources operations surged 31 per cent higher than before COVID-19 hit.
It posted $362.5 million revenue for the 2022 financial year. It booked a $280 million operating profit and $150 million net profit, according to its annual report.
More recently, it has strengthened its Asian routes, resuming flights to Japan, increasing capacity on flights to Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, and adding new routes to Manila and Jakarta.
Macquarie Asset Management and UBS’s sell-side pitch is expected to tell potential investors to think about Perth Airport’s 2105 hectares land bank and the opportunities it presents for value-add
Read more on afr.com
