AIA shares were up 8c, or 5%, at yesterday's close at $1.72 per share on "good" volumes of more than 2 million shares traded, ABN Amro Craigs broker Peter McIntyre said.
Last year, an almost $2 billion Canadian pension fund bid for 40% of AIA was thwarted by the Labour-led Government, while in early 2006, a bid by an international port-management company to take over Lyttelton Port of Christchurch raised concern about foreign-ownership issues.
The overseas bid for Lyttelton was scuppered when Port Otago unexpectedly took a $37 million, 15% stake in Lyttelton, which blocked the full takeover bid and the delisting proposal.
Mr McIntyre said several companies could come under the "strategic asset" umbrella.
However, some were already in overseas ownership, such as Australian Origin Energy-owned Contact Energy.
AIA was a good example of a strategic asset, in that it was New Zealand's gateway, could yet benefit from a huge boost in passenger arrivals flowing from China's growth, and its large land-bank was available for development.
In a statement yesterday, Finance Minister Bill English said no New Zealand government had used the strategic-asset test to block a sale.
"Any future bid for Auckland Airport will continue to have to meet tests for investment in both sensitive land and local businesses. In addition, we will introduce a new national-interest test based on international best practice," Mr English said.
Labour's associate finance spokesman, David Parker, countered that National was preparing the ground to allow privatisation of New Zealand infrastructure companies by weakening legislative controls, meaning foreign investors reaped and spent profits offshore.
"Selling those sorts of assets, like airports and electricity generators, makes New Zealand poorer.
"It does not create extra jobs. New Zealanders lose the future profits, including the monopoly profits that infrastructure companies extract by virtue of their monopoly advantages," Mr Parker said in a statement yesterday.
