Same types of opportunities as Sydney Airport, with a more favourable debt profile. AIA has begun to develop their land holdings and commercialise those assets, but there is still a reasonably long way to go. One company that relocated a few years ago onto AIA land is Coca-Cola Amatil (ASX:CCL), who now have their main NZ manufacturing and distribution centre located adjacent to the Auckland Airport on their land. That's just one example. The advantage for companies like CCL is that they don't have to pay council rates and certain other taxes and charges, and the rates charged by airports - for long term leases on their land - is generally favourable compared to other commercial land in and around capital cities.
New Zealand is also a very popular tourist destination and AIA publish their inbound numbers monthly so it's not hard to track that and to see that NZ is only gaining in popularity. That's a good tailwind for AIA.
AIA don't look cheap, but neither do SYD, and AIA has that sort of potential. Everything that has been achieved by Sydney Airport in terms of commercialisation of their land, their retail space within the airport itself, and the fees they charge for parking, can be replicated to some degree by AIA, but SYD is going to have some competition coming from Sydney's second airport, while AIA are going to have it all to themselves. It's an interesting opportunity I think for a longer term buy and hold.
