English bullish over future selloffs

Bill English
Bill English
Finance Minister Bill English said investor interest in Mighty River Power showed there was enough demand to partially sell Meridian Energy and Genesis.

Mr English told Radio New Zealand this morning Treasury had forecast that about 225,000 investors would buy shares in Mighty River Power - the number of people who bought Contact Energy shares when that company was floated in the late 1990s.

But Treasury's expectations have not been met.

Mr English said more sophisticated investors had the skills and interest to calculate what the risks were, but conceded the opposition parties' proposal was enough to deter mum and dad investors.

Mr English said mum and dad investors would not be put off future share floats as the impact of the Labour - Greens policy wore off.

"The relevance of the Labour/Greens policy is going to fade as people realise it probably won't be implemented and couldn't have the impact they are promising.

"What they did was put a lot of first-time investors off Mighty River Power," Mr English said.

Last night Mr English and State Owned Enterprises Minister Tony Ryall announced Mighty River Power shares would cost $2.50 each.

The shares will net $1.7 billion - about $200 million less than what it would have received if the higher price had been achieved.

The Government had set an indicative price range of $2.35 to $2.80.

It was announced 113,000 New Zealanders had bought shares in the offer; a modest portion of the 440,000 New Zealanders who pre-registered to buy shares, and half the number of people who bought shares in the Contact Energy float in 1999.

 

Add a Comment