National’s asset sales cost $124m + $2.3m per week

• James Henderson
• 11 years ago
• Categories: privatisation

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.

I’ve just dragged and dropped the Greens’ table of what National’s squandered on the asset sales so far:

National’s asset sales have cost more than $124m so far

Total asset sales cost so far: $124.3m

 

Treasury spending: $41.1m (as of 30 June 2013)

• Advertising:$6.5m
• Other outsourced: $29.6m
• Internal: $5.0m

Treasury spent $28.005m on the sale of Mighty River Power and $13.115m on the wider programme

 

Spending by the companies: $17.8m (as of 30 June 2013)

• Genesis Energy: $1.3m
• Meridian Energy: $3.5m
• Mighty River Power (MRP): $12.8m
• Solid Energy: $0.2m

 

Bonus shares for MRP: $25.0m

 

Rio Tinto pay-off: $30.0m

 

Asset sales referendum: $9.0m

(the referendum is only being held as a result of the asset sales policy)

 

Waitangi water dispute: $0.9m

• Māori Council legal aid: $0.6m
• Waitangi Tribunal costs: $0.2m
• (Crown’s costs included above under Treasury)

 

Bonus payment to MRP CEO: $0.5m

(this payment was made for Heffernan agreeing to stay on as CEO until after the sale)

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Costs still to come: hundreds of millions

• Free loans to Meridian buyers: ~$40m
• Genesis incentive scheme: tens of millions
• Other costs of upcoming sales: ~$120m (combined Treasury/company cost was $40m for MRP)
• Ongoing net profit loss to Crown: $180m hit to OBEGAL in 4yrs, lost profit from MRP, $2.3m a week

Stopping the asset sales now will save hundreds of millions of dollars