The exit by Infratil from Z Energy this week, and the reduction in the stake held by the New Zealand Super Fund, offers the petrol company a chance of a different future.
Infratil has sold its 20% interest in Z through a block trade of $6 a share.
The block trade followed a book build which started on Tuesday and ended on Wednesday night.
After sales costs, the net proceeds from the sale of Infratil's 20% stake was $479.2million, resulting in a gain on the sale of $392.2million.
Infratil chief executive Mark Bogoievski said Infratil was a strong supporter of Z and the proposed acquisition of Chevron New Zealand.
Chevron operated the Caltex network in New Zealand.
''While we are positive about the outlook for the business, the current market provided an opportunity for a clean exit and the flexibility to recycle capital into new growth opportunities.''
The super fund confirmed yesterday it had sold a 9.925% interest in Z at $6 a share.
The fund would continue to hold about 10% of the company.
Chief investment officer Matt Whineray said Z had been one of the fund's top performing investments globally.
Reducing the fund's stake allowed it to further diversify its portfolio and realise value from what had been a successful investment.
Forsyth Barr broker Suzanne Kinnaird said the shares were taken up by a mix of institutional and retail investors.
There had been positive news recently from Z as it lifted its 2016 earnings guidance by $24million and indicated the deal with Chevron was likely to be more positive than previously thought.
The work required to integrate the Chevron business was progressing well, with total operating and capital expenditure to cost about $9million less than originally disclosed.
Transition costs were expected to be $55million, not $64million.
In addition, Z was on schedule to be able to integrate Chevron on November 30 and settlement now depended on the date the Commerce Commission provided clearance.
Z would incur $2million of costs a month if the cutover date was delayed, she said.
Z believed Chevron NZ was performing well this year and should achieve similar growth to Z.
''Our rating is outperform. We are confident the Commerce Commission will clear the Z/Chevron deal and that the synergy benefits are material. In addition, Z has positive earnings momentum from the refinery and also fuel margins remain firm,'' Ms Kinnaird said.
Following the announcement of its exit from Z, Infratil launched a bond issue to raise as much as $150million as it considers buying Australian renewable energy firm Pacific Hydro.
The investment firm, managed by HRL Morrison & Co, is selling $100million of eight-year infrastructure bonds paying annual interest of 5.25%, with oversubscriptions of up to $50million, it said in a statement.
Infratil said the company was participating in the sales process of the Melbourne-based Pacific Hydro, whose assets were valued at $A1.9billion ($NZ2.0billion) at December 31, 2014, based on publicly available information.
At a glance
The New Zealand Super Fund, which initially invested $209.8million in buying 50% of Z Energy, has now received $784.6million in proceeds from the investment while the value of the fund's remaining 10.3% is $246.6million (at the $6 block sale price).
