The managers of the Canada Pension Plan want to buy a “significant minority stake” in New Zealand’s largest airport.

The CPP Investment Board said Monday it intends to make an offer for up to 49% of Auckland International Airport Ltd. (AIAL), a company traded on the New Zealand and Australia stock exchanges.

“The CPP Investment Board confirms that it has now largely completed its due diligence of AIAL and is currently considering its options regarding the specifics of a formal proposal,” the board said in a news release.

The airport, which made a “surplus after tax” of about $68 million on revenues of $239 million in the year ended June 30, is an attractive investment, said Mark Wiseman, the CPPIB’s senior vice-president of private investments.

The airport was partly privatized when the New Zealand national government sold its 51.6% shareholding through a public offer in 1998.

But the city councils in both Manukau and Auckland are big shareholders.

The board said it would accommodate any wish by the councils to maintain their proportionate stakes in the airport.

The CPPIB invests the funds not needed by the Canada Pension Plan to pay current benefits. At June 30, the fund had a $120.5 billion portfolio of publicly traded stocks, private equities, real estate, inflation-linked bonds, infrastructure and fixed income.