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Partly privatization of Mighty River Power raises $1.4 billion

Partly privatization of Mighty River Power raises $1.4 billion Wellington Waterfront, NZ Stock Exchange to the right (source: flickr/ T?kuta, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 13 May 2013

The sale of a 49% minority stake and subsequent IPO of Mighty River Power raises $1.4 billion for New Zealand government last week.

The sale of 49% in New Zealand power utility Mighty River Power by the New Zealand Government, has raised NZ$ 1.7 billion ($1.4 billion).

With the sale of this minority stake in the company, the NZ government started a larger privatization effort including among others shares in the flag carrier Air New Zealand.

The deal represents the biggest Initial Public Offering in New Zealand. The sale of a 60% share in Contact energy had raised NZ$1.1 billion.

The 686 million shares in the company were sold to retail and institutional investors in its debut on the NZ Stock Exchange on May 10, 2013.

The sale was postponed due to legal proceedings pushed forward by Maori groups that claimed unsettled resource rights for the geothermal plants of Mighty River Power. ThinkGeoEnergy reported on this previously.

About every 10th New Zealander had registered an interest in buying shares, but only around 113,000 of those 440,000 were able to secure shares.

Source: Reuters