What’s an SOE really worth?

By Idealog, January 9, 2012 @ 10:29 am

Teapot tapes aside, asset sales were the hot button issue this election – but what's an SOE really worth?

Valuations released on the Crown Ownership Monitoring Unit website place Solid Energy at $1.69 billion (according to Forsyth Barr), Genesis Energy at $1.76 billion and Meridian Energy at $6.53 billion (Macquarie), and Mighty River Power at $3.63 billion (First NZ Capital).

The government plans to sell down its holdings to around 50 percent, starting with Mighty River Power.

An Ernst & Young report showed Mighty River consistently produced a higher return on investment than three-quarters of 27 companies in New Zealand, Australia and the US used as a benchmark over 10 years, while Meridian and Genesis either matched or outpaced 75 percent of private competitors in nine and eight out of 10 years respectively.