KEY POINTS:
Shareholders aren't impressed by Government interference in their affairs, according to a spokesman representing their interest.
Shareholders Association chairman Bruce Sheppard said Government meddling has pushed "Mum and Dad" investors to vote in favour of the Canadian bid for the Auckland International Airport.
Mr Sheppard said investors may have initially voted according to their nationalistic tendencies but were now voting for the bid after the government "interfered" with its proposed changes to overseas investment rules.
He said the Government's proposed rule changes had made investors jump ship.
"Some will say: owning anything that might resemble a strategic investment in New Zealand is not a smart investment, therefore I should accept and let someone else own it," Mr Sheppard said.
He said there was also a second group who would vote for the bid just to spite the Government.
Mr Sheppard said the Canadians would get to the 40 per cent share mark and will get the required blessing from the majority of shareholders but the Government will scuttle the deal.
With only a matter of hours to go before the deadline, Mr Sheppard said the "mum and dad" investors will had already voted if they were going to and the institutions - including the councils - would cancel each other out.
"I suspect it is a done deal, so that is effectively saying to Cullen 'bluff called'," he said.
Mr Sheppard said owners of "strategic assets" had had their property rights eroded.
He also said there was confusion around what exactly constituted a strategic asset, given that large infrastructure and land cannot be moved.
Companies like Fisher and Paykel constituted "strategic assets" because they could be moved overseas, he said.
He said the Canadian management could be trusted to look after the asset, given their level of investment.
