Ngai Tahu wants bigger shot at Jet control

by Chris Hutching

Friday 13th February 2004

Entrepreneurial Maori corporate Ngai Tahu Holdings wants closer management control of Shotover Jet, a company it plans to delist once its long-running takeover is successful, chief executive Robin Pratt said yesterday.

Ngai Tahu lifted its stake to more than 90% at its higher takeover level of $1.03 a share and was seeking its own valuation report, as required under takeover rules. A final valuation would be made by the Takeovers Panel and would reveal the wisdom of several plays by minority shareholders in recent weeks. One issue was the value placed on Shotover's exclusive concession on the Shotover River.

The company recently installed a wireless video security alarm system that raises an alert (for commercial and safety reasons) if an unauthorised boat is detected in the concession area.

Dr Pratt said there would be no strategic change but Ngai Tahu would be better able to manage the company without the hindrance of disclosure rules.

"Even though I'm a director of Shotover I cannot use or give the information I receive to anyone at Ngai Tahu until the whole market is informed under the listing rules.

"Sometimes it means the information is three months old and you just can't manage the business that way and I don't think the minority shareholders understand that," he said.

Minority shareholders have expressed annoyance and disappointment at recent decisions to withhold dividends and reinvest the money in the business.

But their disaffection has a longer history.

In spite of Shotover Jet being a tourism icon, it has proved a disappointment to shareholders almost from the time it listed in the early 1990s. This was partly because of overly ambitious expansion schemes, accidents that turned off the Japanese market, and the vicissitudes of the tourism market.

Ngai Tahu has other tourism ventures in the south and it views Shotover as a strategic acquisition.

The takeover's eventuality has never been in doubt just the price that could be squeezed by minorities.

In recent weeks a few minority shareholders had bought shares in a gamble the final valuation would be worth more than $1.03 (an earlier Grant Samuel report put the value in the range of 97c to $1.10).

One significant minority shareholder who had recently bought more shares had now sold them to another newcomer on the share register, Anthony Kandziora, of Remuera, who is banking on a higher value.

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