'Mum and Dad' shares could sell in Australia

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'Mum and Dad' shares could sell in Australia

3News NZ

Prime Minister John Key says a decision hasn't been made on whether shares in the state owned power company Mighty River Power will be sold on the Australian stock exchange

Prime Minister John Key says a decision hasn't been made on whether shares in the state owned power company Mighty River Power will be sold on the Australian stock exchange

By Jenny Suo

The Government is not ruling out listing Mighty River Power shares on both sides of the Tasman.

The partial sale of the state owned energy company is just months away, but today the Prime Minister said he is still deciding whether shares will be available in Australia.

“That decision hasn’t been made, there are eight of the ten major companies are listed in the Australian exchange,” says John Key.

The Government will sell 49 percent of the company to the public.

But Green party co-leader Russel Norman says listing shares in Australia goes against the Government’s claim it wants to maximise New Zealand investment

“By listing these companies, it means that it fundamentally undermines the NZX and means a lot of investors from Australia will simply buy shares over there and they'll have nothing to do with the New Zealand stock exchange,” he says.

And an expert says investment from Australia could drive up share prices for Kiwis.

“There’s a fine balance there – obviously the Government wants to get a good price on its shares, but it also wants to encourage NZ investors. I would have thought that for this particular IPO that the emphasis should be on encouraging New Zealanders to invest,” says investment commentator Brian Gaynor.

Hey says a decision as big as this should have been made much sooner.

“The Government doesn’t seem to have planned it carefully enough, he should be saying either it is, or isn’t rather than being very vague and saying we haven’t ruled that out, all those details should have been worked out by now.”

Mr Norman agrees the asset sale hasn’t been well organised.

“This privatisation that this Government’s running is a pigs breakfast, they don’t know what they're doing most of the time, they seem to be making it up as they go,” he says.

But with the Mighty River float expected in the next few months - a decision will need to made soon.

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Comments

8/08/2012 7:31:42 a.m.

Love wrote:

Keep digging Key, your real personality is showing. Lolol

13/07/2012 8:23:47 p.m.

Mal wrote:

Oz Thats where the mums and dads are now.

13/07/2012 8:10:51 p.m.

Mal wrote:

If the govt decided to sell the 51% (and they will) Those who buy the 49% will get diddly squat. The new owners are not obliged to pay dividends to those who own the 49%. When has this govt ever told the truth about anything?

13/07/2012 2:15:22 p.m.

Longtack wrote:

If Merrill Lynch (Key's former employer) hadn't been run the company into the ground by corporate excess and greed, then Key would be giving them first right of refusal on NZ assets. How can people be so sucked-in by the NZ National Party?? John "I feel your pain, son of a solo-mum-Jewess widow, product-of-working-class" Key. Absolute marketing ploy Ker-rap! Working class mums and dads don't buy great wodges of shares because they don't understand it, and they distrust sharemarkets. If Key needs $ then he should sell the lot to the Govt Super Fund in an orderly gradual process..

13/07/2012 1:37:01 p.m.

pickapocketortwo wrote:

More shiftiness from John Fagin Key.

13/07/2012 11:52:20 a.m.

zac wrote:

It's never been about the NZ mum and dads. That's just a national party spin along with CHCH earthquake, the recession excuses,the need to balance the government books, to try and soften up the public on it's asset sale policy. If we go back to the earlier days when they first announced the policy. It was no partial sale mentioned in the policy. It was a full sell off. The back-down by the government only came weeks after NZders started to protest in numbers, and the opinion poll results indicating that an overwhelming majority of NZders opposed to selling off state assets. Then came the election, some of us forgot all about the asset sales and also there's the issue of the million NZders who didn't get off their backside to vote. No wonder why we get screwed up in this country by some politicians, because some of us have short memories, cant be bothered attitude, and vote with our ahhss and not with our head.

13/07/2012 10:31:22 a.m.

Harry Porter wrote:

MIKE: Your comment shows your complete lack of understanding of the issue of selling the company's that ordinary Kiwis already own. For someone to invest and buy shares they will want to see a return on their investment and there are only a few ways to do that. Either you increase prices, cut outgoing expenses by making products more cheaply or making redundancies. Or create efficiencies from economies of scale. Overseas investors aren't going to care about rate rises and cheap crappy service they just want their stock to rise. We Kiwis will be getting the increases in prices and crap service and that will always outweigh any rise in your share price; it will be us Kiwis losing jobs to make an overseas investor his 15% return each year. Key by saying he is not ruling out selling shares overseas is calling our bluff, he is holding us to ransom and this shows the true colours of the man...anyone who can't see the mistake he is making and the attitude he has towards everyday Kiwis has been brainwashed.

13/07/2012 9:57:10 a.m.

Linda wrote:

This NEO-CON has no morals.

Kiwis are slow learners with regards to how the financial system is owned by international Bankers!

(JP Morgan / BOA) Unvirsities now teach corrupt form of economics.

Austrian economics is the future to the world GFCs = (Germany)

13/07/2012 9:25:01 a.m.

Phil wrote:

How can John Key not see that mums and dads dont want share investment on their electricity, they want cheaper prices. Puting shareholders ahead of electricity prices is just stupid. Electricity prices will have to keep rising to keep shareholders happy. I'm changing to a non SOE electricity company.

13/07/2012 8:32:43 a.m.

David wrote:

Key orinially intended for these shares to be in foreign hands. The reality is even if mum and dad kiwi investors brought them, within 2 years the majority of mum and dad investors would have onsold their shares.