The Queenstown Chamber of Commerce called an urgent meeting yesterday morning to discuss what it regarded as "an increasingly contentious releasing of shares" by the Queenstown Airport Corporation (QAC) to Auckland International Airport Ltd (AIAL).
Chamber chairman Alastair Porter told the Otago Daily Times last night the meeting was organised "partially as a result of reading the ODT" yesterday, with seven of the 10 board members attending.
The chamber will release a report based on "all of the information" within the next 48 hours, which will be circulated to its 270 members and made available to the public.
The strategic alliance between QAC and AIAL was announced last Thursday.
QAC created a 24.99% new shareholding, which it sold to AIAL for $27.7 million.
A second-phase shareholding sale, to take AIAL's interest to between 30% and 35%, would result in the council receiving a $10 million special dividend.
Mr Porter said the chamber had been told why the Queenstown Lakes District Council, as the shareholder, was not consulted, but given the importance of the airport to Queenstown "we think it would have been appropriate" to have allowed the process to go through public consultation before any deal was done.
He said he did not know of "any senior business people" in the resort who were aware of the deal before it was announced publicly last week.
"People are out there having difficulty judging the deal because there isn't enough information in front of them.
"It's positive [news] but there are other considerations that should be made public.
"I don't really want to pre-empt [the report] but I think there are a lot of considerations ... this deal has a lot of far-reaching implications for Queenstown [and] all aspects of the deal need to be understood."
In other developments, Mayor Clive Geddes said the council would not be bound by community feedback in considering the second phase of a shareholding sale to AIAL.
Mr Geddes said the consultation was "not a poll" and the council "does not have to be bound by it".
"It considers the number of submissions and the nature of those submissions [but] there are some issues for the council to consider."
An example was when the council undertook similar consultation when it was reviewing its liquor policy.
At that time about 600 submissions "that were exactly the same" and all in opposition to the changes were received, yet the council made the changes anyway.
Mayoral aspirant Vanessa van Uden said "it would be a brave council that ignored the community's vote".
"And you wouldn't be representing your community, which is after all what you put your hands up to do."
Mr Geddes said if AIAL was allowed to increase its shareholding to 35%, it would be subject to a shareholders' agreement between QAC - which, as the majority shareholder, would write it - and AIAL.
QAC chairman Mark Taylor yesterday said all shares in Queenstown Airport were covered by pre-emptive rights, meaning if at any stage AIAL wanted to sell the shares, they first must be offered back to the council.
However, the buy-back price of the shares would be "subject to separate negotiations at the time", he said.
Queenstown-based businessman Sir Eion Edgar praised the deal yesterday and said "on balance" it was an excellent way to ensure the airport's growth, without imposing debt on the council.
"We want someone that can add skills.
"While it might be nice to [have a local investor] - I wouldn't mind owning part of it myself - the reality is we need to be looking for someone that can add extra money, but can also add value."
