New Zealand Institute of Directors accredited fellow John Harrington, of Arrowtown, told the Otago Daily Times yesterday the controversial deal between Queenstown Airport Corporation (QAC) and Auckland International Airport Ltd (AIAL) was "absolutely brilliant" and the QAC board should be congratulated.
Debate is continuing in the resort around the deal announced publicly on July 8, in which QAC created and sold 24.99% of new shareholding to AIAL for $27.7 million.
Mr Harrington, who is also chairman of SouthPort, told the ODT he was struggling to find any downside to the deal.
"By [AIAL] injecting that amount of money, plus their ability to add value to the company, the whole Queenstown community - especially the business community - should be thrilled about it.
"I just see it as an extremely positive step [and] I struggle to see why so many people are criticising it."
The deal was not about selling land but was about a business and Mr Harrington could see what the board had achieved.
"The primary aim of any board of directors is to add value to their shares for their shareholders.
"I think they have achieved this.
"What is the real objective of the people of Queenstown? To have an excellent airport facility.
"They [the QAC board] don't have to go and borrow any money ... they can write off some of these debts and get what they've got to do done.
"It's for the good of the community - we've got somebody in there with money, experience and everything else.
"Let's get it up and running and away we go.
"My challenge to those people [against it] is very simple.
"What involvement could they add to that company that [AIAL can't]?"Mr Harrington said a similar situation had occurred in the Bay of Plenty, when the Port of Tauranga "down sold" shares.
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council still had the controlling interest, but the company was on the "open market" and was a successful operation.
SouthPort was 66% owned by Environment Southland and as a company, SouthPort had "no difficulty whatsoever in operating under that structure".
"The directors are independent, I can see exactly the same for Queenstown Airport.
"I do not know any of the board of directors [so] it's not as if I'm supporting any of them but they have pulled off a very good transaction, I believe, for the whole community."
In terms of the lack of public consultation, Mr Harrington said it was very simple.
"They couldn't [consult].
"The board is appointed to govern the company.
"They have obviously spent some time getting this together, then they go to the shareholder.
"The primary aim of any board of directors is to add value to their shares, for their shareholders. I think they have achieved this."
