Auckland International Airport plans to return $454 million to shareholders because it has too much capital.
The airport says it will seek shareholder and High Court approval to cancel one in every 10 shares and to pay $3.43 for each cancelled share.
Chair Sir Henry van der Heyden says the airport needs an efficient mix of equity and debt and can return capital because of the airport's strong performance over the past five years.
Chief financial officer Simon Robertson says he wouldn't describe it as the airport having too much capital.
More a strong a strong business performance over an extended period of time which he says has in effect de-geared the business' balance sheets.
For tax purposes, 40% of the payment will be treated as a capital return and so won't be taxable.
The remaining payment will be treated as a taxable dividend and will be taxed at 28%.
