Tell the police, New Zealand has been robbed …

Written By: - Date published: 10:56 am, April 17th, 2014 - 72 comments
Categories: bill english, capitalism, john key, national, same old national - Tags: ,

John Key billboard selling New Zealand

Amongst all the noise created by the disintegration of Judith Collins’ political career there is a much more important story that has avoided the headlines yet presents a much more significant event.  The shareholding of Genesis Energy has been sold at a price that is a steal.

As I commented previously the Government made she sale of Genesis shares an unbelievably attractive offer by essentially decreasing the price to below the shares real value and thereby increasing the yield.  Bill English previously warned the public that only 60% of the shares on offer may be purchased but the political embarrassment this would have caused was averted by essentially giving the shares away.  Clearly this has occurred because the share offer has been heavily oversubscribed and purchases have been heavily scaled back.  The expected yield is 15% which for a utility share is astronomical.

Interestingly the way the Government’s offer was structured has resulted in overseas institutions purchasing one in four of the shares on offer.  You would have thought that local mum and dad investors should have been favoured.  The overseas institutions could have and should have been at the back of the cue and there was plenty of local demand to purchase all of the shares.

And you have to wonder about why the decision to sell was made.  The expected yield, before factoring in the effect of the loyalty bonus, is three times the interest rate that the Crown is charged.  We are losing heavily.  And four out of five of the institutions which valued the shares said they were worth more than what they have been sold for.

New Zealand you have been robbed.

72 comments on “Tell the police, New Zealand has been robbed … ”

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  1. aerobubble 1
    17 April 2014 at 11:12 am

    The ad for the sale of shares was misleading, it gave the impression that the NZ public didn’t already own them (via the government trust) and that they could now buy a share. It wasn’t so much a sale, it was a forced de-sale of everyone else’s share.

  2. Enough is Enough 2
    17 April 2014 at 11:14 am

    Don’t worry – the theft will be temporary.

    Subject to all you true lefties giving your vote to a true left party (Greens or Mana), there will be legislation in the house before Christmas to renationalise these assets.

    • Tracey 2.1
      17 April 2014 at 11:45 am

      yup… its everyones money where your mouths are…

      and buying them back at sale price not the listing price on the day of the buy back.

      a decent focused set of comments by the left leaves the govt nowhere to go on this. if a client of john keys previous employer said should we sell this to offset borrowings he would have said

      ” at that price you are crazy, the numbers make no sense.”

      or

      “yes, sell” followedby phone calls through a well prepared veil to add them to his own portfolio, or that of a trust or company or other structure

      • Enough is Enough 2.1.1
        17 April 2014 at 11:59 am

        Yep – money where mouth is being the key phrase.

        For that reason the incoming government must consist of an influentia left voice. Greens rely on us getting them to 15% plus.

      • felix 2.1.2
        17 April 2014 at 12:29 pm

        “and buying them back at sale price not the listing price on the day of the buy back.
        “

        Whichever is lower.

        • Lanthanide 2.1.2.1
          17 April 2014 at 12:42 pm

          Saying that ensures that the list price will meet the sale price.

          Same things happens when there’s a takeover of shares, if it’s indicated to be 10% above the current share price, the share price “magically” becomes equal to the buyout price.

    • Stuart Munro 2.2
      17 April 2014 at 12:33 pm

      The renationalisation must take place at a discount. The public should not pay the thieves’ costs. 15-20% should cover it, and make the scum think long and hard before they steal any more.

    • TightyRighty 2.3
      17 April 2014 at 3:07 pm

      oh yeah? i haven’t seen any concrete evidence of that policy from either party? are they going to announce it pre election? or just foist on voters? should they get enough votes of course.

      • Stuart Munro 2.3.1
        18 April 2014 at 3:14 am

        This theft was enabled by the corruption of Banks, Dunne & the Maori party.

        The referendum is a clear mandate to reverse the thefts.

        Hanging the thieves would be popular too.

  3. Puckish Rogue 3
    17 April 2014 at 12:09 pm

    On the plus side I’m much better off thanks 🙂

    • Tracey 3.1
      17 April 2014 at 12:32 pm

      glad to see you agree they have been sold under value.

      • Puckish Rogue 3.1.1
        17 April 2014 at 12:35 pm

        and if they’d been over priced you lefties’d be crowing about that as well

        • Lanthanide 3.1.1.1
          17 April 2014 at 12:43 pm

          Exactly. This was a lose-lose policy for the government, either taxpayers get shafted, or “the public” that buy the shares gets shafted.

          Who gets shafted has see-sawed back and forth through these sales, but this final sale has well an truly screwed the taxpayer.

      • Markymark 3.1.2
        17 April 2014 at 1:17 pm

        They were undervalued because the economic illiterates in the Labour and Green parties came out with a horrendous idea to de-facto nationalise the electricity industry – ala Rob Muldoon populism style.

        The policy had no economic nor public policy merit, rather it was just designed to create large risk in the marketplace thereby tanking the government’s various IPO’s. The end result of this economic sabotage has been that hundreds of millions of $ have been wiped off the value of those SOE’s. That is real wealth that belonged to both the NZ govt and middle class Kiwi’s who’s KiwiSaver funds are heavily invested in the stock market.

        Funnily enough, Gareth Hughes didn’t even deny such nefarious motives when asked on camera by TV3.

        The NZ Power policy has not a single academic or economist backing it – bar the guy who actually wrote the policy (Ganesh Nana at BERL). That’s a fact. Not a single independent intellectual will sign their name to it. The expert that was alleged to have been backing the policy (Frank Wollak) has completely rubbished it. It is wholly lacking in credibility

        I’d love to hear what the intelligent and rational left wingers on this site have to say about the influence of such a half baked policy on the SOE floats, before they begin bleating about the price Genesis floated at.

        • Draco T Bastard 3.1.2.1
          17 April 2014 at 1:30 pm

          The real wealth is the actual generators and they have been stolen from the owners – the people of New Zealand.

        • Tracey 3.1.2.2
          17 April 2014 at 1:32 pm

          Why wait for the left wingers here to comment, why not read the experts?

          Non expert (markymark) says

          “They were undervalued because the economic illiterates in the Labour and Green parties came out with a horrendous idea to de-facto nationalise the electricity industry – ala Rob Muldoon populism style.”

          Five independent reports (Edison, Woodward Partners, Craigs, Morningstar and fat prophets) on Genesis Energy say

          “All the research reports regard the main risks to Genesis as being its exposure to onerous take-or-pay contracts for natural gas from the Kupe oil and gas field, in which it owns a 31 percent stake, and the fact that Kupe’s earnings will cease in the late 2020s, when its reserves are exhausted.

          The other major risk identified, but discounted as unlikely by some of the research, is the Labour and Green parties’ proposals to drop power prices by dismantling current wholesale electricity market arrangements and imposing a central buyer model.”

          …

          “Craigs puts a value range on Genesis shares of between $1.52 – the only valuation among those published today that is below the $1.55 IPO price – in the event of a Labour-Greens win, but says that could rise as high as $1.97 if a National-led government is reinstalled.”

          So, all the experts factored in the Labour/Greens powerNZ proposal, and the worst analysis for the true value of the shares was $1.52 ($.03 below the listing price) and the highest was over $1.90.

          I’ll leave it those reading your post and mind to determine which of us appears the intelligent and rational one on this topic.

          • Molly 3.1.2.2.1
            19 April 2014 at 10:08 am

            I’ve thought for a while that the Standard needs an emoticon that looks left and right, to indicate the phrase “Where did they go?”.

            Would come in particularly useful for those such as MarkyMark who leave abruptly when they run out of rhetoric, or have been overwhemingly debunked, by replies such as yours.

  4. Draco T Bastard 4
    17 April 2014 at 12:09 pm

    The sale has achieved it’s purpose – the forced transfer of public wealth to the private sector. Essential if you want to bring back feudalism as National does.

    • Enough is Enough 4.1
      17 April 2014 at 12:15 pm

      Draco they have succeeded. What we now have is modern version of feudalism.

      People who say this government has been a failure, dont know what they are talking about. This government has done exactly what it set out to do. They have been remarkable in their abilty to push through a hard right agenda, keep the media on-side and essentially screw the majority of New Zealand workers.

      • Draco T Bastard 4.1.1
        17 April 2014 at 12:22 pm

        Agreed but it is not just screwing the workers, it’s screwing everyone except the 1%.

  5. johnm 5
    17 April 2014 at 12:13 pm

    Daylight Robbery! 🙁
    Thought for the day. We are not a democracy run by the people for the people, we are now an oligarchy a state run for the benefit of privatised interests with some residual democratic trappings. That’s why people like me who have protested against these robberies feel like they’re beating their heads against a fluffy pillow and are simply ignored though citizens of this land. Labour has not said it would renationalise these stolen assets why?

    • Puckish Rogue 5.1
      17 April 2014 at 12:16 pm

      “That’s why people like me who have protested against these robberies feel like they’re beating their heads against a fluffy pillow and are simply ignored though citizens of this land.”

      John Key said this would happen before the last election so everyone knew it was going to happen and John Key was returned to power

      “Labour has not said it would renationalise these stolen assets why?”

      Not even most of Labour are that stupid (the rest of the left however…)

      • Draco T Bastard 5.1.1
        17 April 2014 at 12:24 pm

        And National did it with only 35% of the possible vote.

        • Puckish Rogue 5.1.1.1
          17 April 2014 at 12:29 pm

          If the people didn’t want what National was saying they could have voted elsewhere but fortunately National has Labour running against it as its main opponent so thats not likely to happen

      • Tracey 5.1.2
        17 April 2014 at 12:33 pm

        Can you post links to where Mr key said prior to the election that he might sell them under their true value?

        • Puckish Rogue 5.1.2.1
          17 April 2014 at 12:47 pm

          Why should I? Key said there’d be a partial sell off and was returned to power, hes also said its the last so its over…just in time for the election as well 🙂

          • felix 5.1.2.1.1
            17 April 2014 at 12:53 pm

            Bit lazy mate. Key is on record saying there was no bottom price too low to sell the power companies because selling them was the right thing to do.

            He said it in the house, so the transcripts and videos are easy to find.

            Lazy.

          • Tracey 5.1.2.1.2
            17 April 2014 at 12:56 pm

            because you wrote

            “John Key said this would happen before the last election so everyone knew it was going to happen and John Key was returned to power”

            this suggests you know where key said he would sell them below value. So, front up. Even felix is trying to help you.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 5.1.3
        17 April 2014 at 1:09 pm

        Labour has said it will renationalise these stolen assets on Labour’s terms, not whatever false premises the Corruption-in-Chief lies about.

    • johnm 5.2
      18 April 2014 at 11:08 am

      The same process happening in the U$K Neo Feudalism, democracy just a feel good word now:
      What the people want is irrelevant:

  6. Draco T Bastard 6
    17 April 2014 at 12:14 pm

    Yes PR, that’s generally what happens when a robbery is committed. A few people are better off and everyone else is worse off.

    • Puckish Rogue 6.1
      17 April 2014 at 12:18 pm

      Quite yer crocodile tears you whining lefties, NZ still have the majority control so its not like National are even remotely close to emulating Labour in this aspect

      • Draco T Bastard 6.1.1
        17 April 2014 at 12:28 pm

        Majority ownership, not control. The law prohibits the majority owner from doing anything that interferes with the minority owners maximised profit. Thus the companies can no longer do things that benefit society.

        • Puckish Rogue 6.1.1.1
          17 April 2014 at 12:31 pm

          Try getting Cunliffe to explain that to the public and see how well it goes vs John Key explaining and we’ll see how the public takes it

          • felix 6.1.1.1.1
            17 April 2014 at 12:43 pm

            I note that you did not dispute the facts as Draco stated them.

            • Puckish Rogue 6.1.1.1.1.1
              17 April 2014 at 12:55 pm

              The facts as you see them don’t matter, the facts as I see them don’t matter what matters is what message the voting public will buy and that depends on the salesperson doing the selling

              Haven’t you on the left worked it out yet?

              • Tracey …
                17 April 2014 at 1:00 pm

                minority shareholder rights are not “facts as you see them”. They are simply facts.

                Yes, some of us have long known that politics is being played by some as a game to which the best liar gets the power and spoils. That you glibly praise and personally benefit from it makes you a rather sad and unlikeable man/woman.

                • felix …
                  17 April 2014 at 1:03 pm

                  Boasting about being dishonest.

                  Boasting about ignoring facts.

                  Ladies and Gents, the Right Wing.

                • Puckish Rogue …
                  17 April 2014 at 2:06 pm

                  Ok well tell you what after the next election you can sit there smugly feel superior while the right get on and run the country, sound good?

              • Draco T Bastard …
                17 April 2014 at 2:17 pm

                The facts may not matter on Planet Key but they certainly matter here in reality.

        • Tracey 6.1.1.2
          17 April 2014 at 12:34 pm

          an inconvenient truth for the right and their supporters like Puckish, preferring to mislead the public with “we have maintained majority control”. No, we have maintained majority shareholding. Quite a different thing.

          • Hayden 6.1.1.2.1
            17 April 2014 at 1:04 pm

            But it’s quite alright as long as the voters believe the soothing noises John Key makes at them.

            • Tracey 6.1.1.2.1.1
              17 April 2014 at 1:08 pm

              according to Puckish, it’s not just “alright” it’s personally financially enriching. Personal responsibility and accountability is only for the poor and low income Hayden.

              • Puckish Rogue …
                17 April 2014 at 1:27 pm

                Meh, plenty of people did well out of WFF but i didn’t so its swings and roundabouts

                • Tracey …
                  17 April 2014 at 2:21 pm

                  if what you post is a true reflection of your views i hope you have no sphere of influence.

                  • Puckish Rogue …
                    17 April 2014 at 2:31 pm

                    You do know whos in power at the moment don’t you which means more people are in agreement with me then you

                    • thatguynz …
                      17 April 2014 at 3:56 pm

                      Actually, you are incorrect. Of those that CHOSE TO VOTE, more favoured the cobbled together right wing rabble that we are currently saddled with….

                      …however overall, the vast majority don’t support your mates. Get your facts right.

        • Melb 6.1.1.3
          17 April 2014 at 2:33 pm

          “Thus the companies can no longer do things that benefit society.”

          What rot. Under the SOE model these companies were already required by law to maximise profit.

          • Draco T Bastard 6.1.1.3.1
            17 April 2014 at 2:51 pm

            The government, being the owner, could have told them not to do so. The government can no longer do that.

  7. srylands 7
    17 April 2014 at 1:12 pm

    You all need to get over it. Ultimately the remaining 51% of my these companies will be privatized. There is no alternative. The companies will continue to do things that benefit society. They will will provide electricity. Why the left is obsessed with tqhe partial ell down of some power cos I have no idea. Why do you want the government running companies? If it is good enough for electricity where does it END? Supermarkets? You should be concerned about electricity, not who owns the companies.

    Btw you criticize genesis for being under priced. I recall most commentators here criticizing map for being over priced. A useful target for a first day float price is a 10% spike. So that means about 1.65 to 1.70 for genesis.

    I sincerely hope the remaining 51% gets sold but it will probably need to wait 6 years.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 7.1
      17 April 2014 at 1:22 pm

      Poor dinosaur, left isolated by the IMF, watching helplessly as the World Bank tosses the TINA Bible on the bonfire, the realisation gradually dawning of an entire life’s work wasted chasing ephemera.

      Quick, intone the mantra again!

    • Tracey 7.2
      17 April 2014 at 1:22 pm

      You are one of the only people, along with John Key and Bill English (career bureaucrat) that consider it wise economic thinking to sell several assets in the same industry in such a short space of time, if the idea is to maximise return.

      • Disraeli Gladstone 7.2.1
        18 April 2014 at 10:41 pm

        Bingo.

        You can make your arguments that the SOEs should have been sold. There’s a rational argument (though I’m sure others will disagree) that government shouldn’t own electricity companies. There’s also a very rational argument that governments should own necessary utilities. Either way, there’s room to debate.

        What there’s not room to really debate on is how the sale was conducted. You don’t sell a host of similar companies in a short amount of time. You slacken demand for the later offerings and don’t make as much money as you would if the sale was conducted earlier.

        Ideologue about state owned assets aside, the asset sales of this government was financial incompetency.

    • Draco T Bastard 7.3
      17 April 2014 at 1:37 pm

      As I pointed out to you yesterday the government is better at running businesses than the private sector. And they can do it without the dead weight loss of profit.

      • Tracey 7.3.1
        17 April 2014 at 2:23 pm

        i think slylands is really jenny shipley. why?

        ” Ultimately the remaining 51% of my these companies will be privatized.

  8. Tiger Mountain 8
    17 April 2014 at 1:37 pm

    The “invisible hand of the market” has left a lot of grubby fingerprints behind in this debacle.
    Re-nationalisation… going forward…

    • Draco T Bastard 8.1
      17 April 2014 at 3:03 pm

      Re-nationalisation is inevitable. Same as the revolutions against feudalism were inevitable and for the same reason.

  9. Tracey 9
    17 April 2014 at 2:25 pm

    as genesis shares moved toward $1.80, and accounting for broker fees, who just made a 20% profit on their shares…

    • Puckish Rogue 9.1
      17 April 2014 at 2:33 pm

      🙂

      But its not about the share price for me but the divedend

      • Tracey 9.1.1
        17 April 2014 at 2:40 pm

        which is the very reason they shouldnt have been sold.

        still, you were capped at $5000… must have been annoying after the pre election you would be at the front of the queue… unless you dont have children in which case key didnt mean you.

        • Puckish Rogue 9.1.1.1
          17 April 2014 at 2:47 pm

          Ah well thats life you know, I was too young to profit from what Labour did so heres my chance to improve my life a little

      • Draco T Bastard 9.1.2
        17 April 2014 at 3:08 pm

        Yes, well done, you’ve just become and even bigger bludger on the backs of the rest of NZ.

  10. Sacha 10
    17 April 2014 at 6:24 pm

    Renationalise and deduct the same $250m ‘fees’ as the pricks flogged in the other direction.

    • Murray Olsen 10.1
      17 April 2014 at 10:26 pm

      That’s a bit generous. I suggest their $250m fee and another $250m of our own.

  11. dave 11
    18 April 2014 at 4:10 pm

    i want buy them back to but i would want to smash the share price first with the NZ power policy then buy them back to half the value