On Tuesday the public float of a majority stake in Auckland International Airport Ltd (AIA) is to be launched by ministers, along with full disclosure of the financial terms of the deal.

Television advertising, featuring well-known former All Black rugby captain Sean Fitzpatrick, has already begun and the pitch is strongly directed towards retail investors.

Newspaper reports have said the float will offer parcels of 2,000 shares at about NZ$2 per share, with an international book-building process setting the final price.

Treasurer Winston Peters, finance minister Bill Birch and state-owned enterprises minister Tony Ryall will jointly present the prospectus at a news conference at the airport, the country's busiest, on Tuesday afternoon.

Preparations by Merrill Lynch have come up with an investment statement to support theprospectus, while the government will also provide a toll-free phone line for would-be buyers.

The state's entire stake of 51.6 per cent in the AIA company is to be offered, with analysts expecting overseas investors to be heavily involved in the issue as it is likely to be too big for the local market to soak up.

The government has made a point of offering guaranteed allocations of shares to all New Zealanders who apply but, even so, most estimates of the number of shares suggest supply will easily exceed domestic demand.

The airport is probably worth in the region of NZ$1.5 billion (US$760 million), sources close to the float have said, suggesting the half being sold may have potential to raise around NZ$775 million. The airport's annual report to June 1997 showed total equity of NZ$325 million, but in late May its present shareholders approved a special dividend of NZ$135 million, contingent on the company achieving stock exchange listing. Following that decision, rating agency Standard and Poor'sput its AA-minus long-term and A1-plus short-term local currency ratings on credit watch with negative implications.

AIA made a profit of NZ$21.1 million in the half year to December 31, 1997, up 15 per cent, and said in March it expected to show a ``satisfactory'' increase for the full-year over last year's NZ$40.5 million profit. However, with tourism being one of the areas to have suffered pressure from the Asian crisis in the last half year or so, Auckland is unlikely to have been immune from the fall-off in foreign visitor numbers experienced nationally.

In May overseas visitor arrivals nationally fell by seven per cent, while arrivals from Asia dropped by 37 per cent to 18,950.

For the 12 months to May the number of overseas visitor arrivals was 1.46 million, down five per cent on the year-ago period.

The ministers at Tuesday's briefing are likely to be questioned hard on what impact is expected on the airport's performance from the continued contraction in Asian spending and in tourist volumesfrom several key source countries.