The Auckland mayor and self-proclaimed 'Mr Fix' it threw a spanner in the works at the stock exchange today, forcing a trading halt on Auckland Airport shares.
During a livestreamed council meeting, Wayne Brown said the airport was planning a major capital raise to fund a new domestic terminal and that in turn would dillute the council's 18 percent shareholding in the company.
Big announcements that could change the value of listed companies' shares are supposed to be made through the sharemarke, so no-one gets an unfair financial advantage.
The mayor immediately went into damage control releasing a statement saying he was only "speculating".
Our reporter, Finn Blackwell, was at the meeting.
