privatisation
Categories under privatisation
Air New Zealand sale starts tomorrow
Written By: - Date published: 4:40 pm, November 17th, 2013 - 294 comments
The Government has announced that the sell down of Air New Zealand shares will occur over the next two days.
Air NZ sale coming on the quiet
Written By: - Date published: 7:57 pm, November 13th, 2013 - 121 comments
Word is out that National is going to slam through the sale of its Air NZ shares early next week ahead of the referendum. No mention of ‘mum and dad’ investors this time. No ad campaign imploring you get ‘get your share’. Nope. It’ll be a quick and dirty sale to some big institution which will then divvy it up to other institutions. We might not even be told until after the fact.
Key rewrites history for “Crazy Colin”
Written By: - Date published: 5:00 pm, November 13th, 2013 - 68 comments
Answering questions on the up-coming Asset Sales referendum, John Key spoke some appalling un-truths. He is rewriting political history to suit “Crazy” Colin Craig’s possible coalition bottom lines on the “anti-smacking” law. Cunliffe finally got there in the General Debate, but the opposition was too slow in countering Key’s lies & spin.
Couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery
Written By: - Date published: 7:18 am, November 6th, 2013 - 99 comments
National was warned not to give the main ultrafast broadband contracts to Chorus. All it would do would restore and strengthen the monopoly that had kept internet prices too high (which Cunliffe has addressed). Of course, National ignored that. And now, once again, National finds itself in a corner, about to bailout out a large corporate that is using its market power to threaten its political agenda.
Key says ‘damn the torpedoes’ on asset sales
Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, October 30th, 2013 - 44 comments
The asset sales have been an unmitigated failure. They’ve raised less money than expected, they’ve cost more than twice as much as National said they would, no ‘mums and dads’ have shown up to buy the shares, and the public is waiting for its referendum. Now, it turns out that Treasury warned Key not to flood the market but Key plans to keep on flooding it.
National’s failed asset sales
Written By: - Date published: 12:07 pm, October 26th, 2013 - 17 comments
Asset sales: Key’s scorched earth tactics will backfire
Written By: - Date published: 9:14 am, October 25th, 2013 - 60 comments
Granny supported little Johnny’s plan to go off to market and sell the family’s cash cow. But even she’s furious that what he’s come back with amounts to nothing more than a hill of beans. As Granny Herald notes, the Nats’ determination to push ahead with the remaining sales regardless is all about ideology, and the knowledge that they’re going to lose the next election.
The Meridian flop
Written By: - Date published: 7:29 am, October 24th, 2013 - 143 comments
National’s trying to blame it on Labour and the Greens for the Meridian sale flop, which attracted only a quarter of the expected ‘mums and dads’ (rich ‘mums and dads’ who put in $18k each). But let’s just get this straight: the decision to sell was National’s. If they don’t think they’re getting the price that they should for the sales, then they should stop them.
Where did Mighty River get that spare $50m?
Written By: - Date published: 7:57 am, October 16th, 2013 - 44 comments
So, Mighty River Power has so much spare cash at the moment that it just doesn’t know what to do with it. Rather than pay out a special dividend, they’re going to buy back some shares. This, naturally, has raised eyebrows because these shares were only just sold to ‘mum and dad’. But the bigger question is: where did Mighty River get a spare $50m in the first place?
From failure to farce
Written By: - Date published: 7:44 am, October 11th, 2013 - 95 comments
“John Key’s asset sales have descended from failure to farce” – that’s how Metiria Turei described the announcement that Mighty River Power will be buying back shares just five months after they were privatised. Clayton Cosgrove put it more bluntly: “It’s a good thing the government doesn’t own a brewery cos they couldn’t organise a pi .. a DRINK in one”.
Mighty River Power is buying back shares
Written By: - Date published: 11:32 am, October 10th, 2013 - 45 comments
The Board of Mighty River Power has announced that it is buying back up to 2% of its shares because this is a prudent use of capital and will be value enhancing. It is a shame that the Government was incapable of seeing this. Expect a surge in its share price to occur and I suspect that this will be beneficial for the Meridian float.
$1.6 million a week lost net dividends from Meridian
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, October 7th, 2013 - 12 comments
The asset sales costs just keep on rising. The tally so far is $124 million. The ‘buy now, pay later’ scheme for Meridian is going to cost $61 million. There will be tens of millions in other sales costs. Now, the Greens have calculated the lost net dividends from Meridian alone at $1.6 million per week. Makes the referendum seem like a good investment in telling Key this is not OK.
Your Brighter Future: Burn.
Written By: - Date published: 1:13 pm, October 2nd, 2013 - 15 comments
“I just utter one fear…”
Remember that?
Breaking news on the Keep Our Assets Referendum
Written By: - Date published: 4:39 pm, September 30th, 2013 - 58 comments
John Key has today announced that the keep our assets referendum will be conducted by postal vote later this year. He has also announced the Christchurch East by election will occur on November 30. And National MP Chris Tremain has announced that he will not seek re election next year.
Have the Nats been at the insanity peppers?
Written By: - Date published: 6:57 am, September 23rd, 2013 - 23 comments
Selling Mighty River shares was bad enough: $66m taxpayer dollars spent on selling shares with a dividend yield of 6% (the total shareholder return for the Crown last year was 11%) to avoid borrowing at 4% . That’s spending money to lose money. Not crazy enough, apparently. For the Meridian sale, they’ve doubled down. The cost will be $100m and they’ll be selling shares with a dividend yield of 8%.
You’re paying for interest-free loans to foreign bankers
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, September 19th, 2013 - 89 comments
You will have heard of this ‘buy now, pay later’ plan that the Nats have to try to save the Meridian sale. Pay 60% of your shares’ price up front, the remaining 40% in 18 months. It’s an interest-free loan, funded by higher government borrowing. What we didn’t know is this outrageous fact: this taxpayer-funded interest-free loan will be extended to foreign banks
John Key’s anti-democratic government
Written By: - Date published: 9:31 am, September 17th, 2013 - 48 comments
John Key tries to smear the winner of Labour’s democratic leadership contest as “far left”, while his government continues in its anti-democratic, plutocratic ways: sale of Meridian to avoid referendum; Joyce’s Broadband pricing “arm twisting”.
Colin James on the asset sales referendum & Nats’ economic record
Written By: - Date published: 10:25 am, September 10th, 2013 - 17 comments
Colin James takes on Key over the asset sales referendum, savaging the economic argument for sales. Then he turns to National’s other big financial markets call – suspending contributions to the Cullen Fund James discovers its cost us a lot of money. What James doesn’t recognise is that asset sales and suspending the Cullen Fund payments were never about what’s best for NZ.
National’s asset sales cost $124m + $2.3m per week
Written By: - Date published: 7:26 am, September 4th, 2013 - 32 comments
National says that $9m is too expensive for you to have your democratic say on asset sales (that’s less than the budget for Pike River re-entry, which everyone supports even though it’s unlikely to recover bodies). What National doesn’t want to you now is that they’ve spent at least $124m on the asset sales so far, and the foregone net profits from Mighty River is running at $2.3m a week.
Spendthrift Key objects to cost of democracy
Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, September 3rd, 2013 - 282 comments
Key’s big whine today is that the referendum on asset sales, which over 10% of Kiwis have requested as required by law, will be ‘extremely costly’ at $9m. This guy’s joking, right? Mr ‘2-billion-of-tax-cuts-in-the-middle-of-a-recession’ is whining about $9m on democracy? All up, Key’s squandered well over a hundred million on asset sales so far.
Cost of Mighty River sale keeps on rising
Written By: - Date published: 7:27 am, August 29th, 2013 - 32 comments
National spent $66 million selling Mighty River Power. That’s what it costs to put 750 kids all the way through school. The Greens have done the numbers on Mighty River’s profit announcement to work out the Crown would have a net $2.3 million more per week if it hadn’t sold the shares. That ongoing loss is enough to pay for the education of 18,000 kids.
Who would buy Meridian shares after MRP?
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, August 28th, 2013 - 209 comments
If you invested in Mighty River, you’ve lost 13% of your money so far. The word is the current plunge is prices is institutions selling off in order to force the Meridian listing price lower and Mighty River has a long way to fall yet. But the lower it goes, the less likely ordinary people will be to risk their savings on another privatised power company.
Key adds another $40m to the asset sales bill
Written By: - Date published: 6:24 am, August 21st, 2013 - 120 comments
We know that only 2.5% of Kiwis bought shares in Mighty River Power. English now talks of ‘tens of thousands’ buying Meridian shares. This ain’t no widespread ownership – it’s the few buying and the many losing ownership. So far, we’ve paid at least $100m for these sales. Yesterday, Key added $40m in interest-free loans to Meridian buyers.
The magical world of New Zealand’s, Neo-Liberal right wing.
Written By: - Date published: 6:06 am, August 1st, 2013 - 83 comments
It has been obvious that some people live in a different world than the rest of us. One where Chicago school economics, work! One where you save the village by blowing it up! One where global warming can be stopped, Canute like, by legislation. One where dropping wages and giving everything to bloated financiers, makes […]
Dropping the pretense: Whanau Ora privatisation
Written By: - Date published: 7:34 am, July 17th, 2013 - 44 comments
So, Tariana Turia is finally dropping the pretense that Whanau Ora is anything but a scheme to privatise social assistance and put it in the hands of unaccountable private groups. Not content with funding family reunions and other bollocks, Turia is now handing the funding decisions to three private groups. Oh, and she doesn’t want them to be covered by the OIA.
NRT – Transmission Gully: A $2 billion scam
Written By: - Date published: 9:52 am, July 11th, 2013 - 13 comments
I/S at No Right Turn on a $2 Billion Transmission Gully scam…
John Key – Economic Miracle Maker
Written By: - Date published: 7:02 pm, July 9th, 2013 - 24 comments
Our wonderful leader John Key is able to sell our assets, spend all the money and then some on his favourite projects, pay down debt and maintain our credit rating all at the one time. If you believe this there is a bridge that I would like to show you …
Key, Brownlee: Not Auckland’s friends
Written By: - Date published: 9:26 am, July 1st, 2013 - 41 comments
John Key’s u-turn on Auckland City Rail is all smoke, mirrors and sleight of hand stealth of the common good. Phil Twyford and the Auckland Transport Blog are skeptical. Funding? Roads over public transport? Asset sales?
Who benefits?
Written By: - Date published: 9:19 am, June 21st, 2013 - 42 comments
The leaderless uprising in Brazil exposes unbearable inequalities in a dysfunctional post-growth world. Extravagant sports events and expensive stadium contrast with anti-public service austerity measures. Home building lags in Christchurch, while Key looks to asset sales to fund a stadium.
So, who’s up for buying some shares in Meridian?
Written By: - Date published: 8:59 am, June 5th, 2013 - 40 comments
Mighty River closed at a new low of $2.36 yesterday. Here’s English on the likely take up of the sale of Meridian: “We would expect that it will give New Zealanders the opportunity to invest in a large New Zealand company, and tens of thousands of them are likely to do so.” Tens of thousands. For reference, they expected 250,000 investors in Mighty River but only 113,000 showed up.
Images of our time: ‘shock’ capitalism
Written By: - Date published: 11:03 am, May 30th, 2013 - 87 comments
As Naomi Klein said in the Shock Doctrine documentary, disorienting natural and economic shocks result in the wealth being shifted from “public hands” to the wealthiest. The wealth gap, and extent of poverty in NZ is increasingly & devastatingly marginalising good Kiwis. Meanwhile, Peter Jackson is flying high.
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