State-owned electricity company MightyRiverPower(MRP) will be first out of the blocks in the governments’ ambitious designs to sell minority stakes in SOEs over the next years. MRP, which operates as Mercury Energy in the retail electricity market, has long been thought about the most prepared on the market of up to 49 percent of its shares on the open market, leaving the government with a 51 percent controlling shareholding.
Finance Minister Bill English and SOE Minister Tony Ryall confirmed at a press briefing this morning that the part-sale would put New Zealanders in the front of the queue for share allocations. No single shareholder other than the government would be allowed to own over ten percent of any of the companies put up for partial sale..The MRP offering is still time for late next year, the Ministers said.
They gave no hint on which SOE might be next on the list for part-sale, but have identified Meridian Energy and Genesis Energy, along with coal-mine Solid Energy and the national airline, Air New Zealand, as candidates on the market. Legislative changes will be necessary to permit the method to go ahead. FMA to file civil suits against Hanover directors The securities industry watchdog, the Financial Markets Authority, will pursue the directors of Hanover Finance, Hanover Capital and United Finance over statements in their December 2007 prospectuses and later marketing.
The decision follows a extended inquiry, in which most of the assets of Hanovers former chief executive, Mark Hotchin, have been frozen, requiring him recently to appeal to the court for a bigger living allowance. Hanover collapsed in 2008, leading to the freezing of some $554 million of money. A later attempt a rescue deal by Allied Farmers, in a debt-for-equity swap, has also turned sour as the extent of Hanover non-performing loans became apparent. FMA chief executive Sean Hughes said they anticipated filing a claim next year, seeking pecuniary penalty orders and compensation for investors.
