State assets assessed for sale to investors

TVNZ is worth $211 million. Photo / Martin Sykes

Work will begin soon on assessing which state assets, if any, will be put on National's for-sale list going into the next election, says the Prime Minister.

John Key indicated yesterday that any part-sale of Kiwibank would be a public float and not a trade sale and that the Government would want to retain a majority shareholding.

But he warned reporters at his post-Cabinet press conference not to assume that National's moratorium on sales would be lifted.

"I certainly wouldn't get ahead of yourselves. I'm not saying there couldn't be a change. It's possible but I also wouldn't guarantee that there would be one."

National's position is that there will be no state asset sales this parliamentary term and that it will set out a clear position before the 2011 election.

Finance Minister Bill English revived speculation about the policy after raising the possibility on Friday of a partial float of Kiwibank to raise capital.

Yesterday, Mr Key said the Government had had discussions with the board of Kiwibank's parent company, New Zealand Post, about a capital injection to expand the bank.

"One of the options is we can refuse that request; the second is we could look to grow Kiwibank through a capital injection ourselves - just as we did with KiwRail, for instance. But at this point, that decision hasn't been made."

There would be a clear process where ministers would define the policy then "kick the tyres on the merits of the policy whatever it might be".

"We will need to start that process sometime soon."

Mr Key said he was not ideologically opposed to asset sales but it was not a first-term agenda item and National had been transparent about no sales this term, with a clear position going into 2011.

Asked if asset sales could help to control debt, Mr Key said that "would depend on a few circumstances but not really, insomuch as I think we are getting on top of our debt position".

Mr English was secretly taped by a Labour sympathiser in 2008 saying he would like to sell Kiwibank "eventually".

Labour Party state-owned enterprises spokesman Clayton Cosgrove said that "Kiwi mums and dads already own Kiwibank through something called taxation".

He said the reality was it would not be these people who would buy shares.

"It will be large foreign institutions who want to grab a slice of this popular and growing young bank that is actually owned by Kiwis."

Most valuable

Net Worth 2010

* AsureQuality: $33m
* Genesis: $1.4b
* Kordia: $99m
* Landcorp: $1.36b
* Meridian Energy: $4.28b
* Mighty River Power: $2.62b
* NZ Post: $728m
* KiwiRail Group: $12.88b
* Solid Energy: $410m
* Transpower: $1.53b
* Radio NZ: $52m
* TVNZ: $211m
* Lotteries Commission: $42m
* Chch Airport shares: $143m
* Dunedin Airport: $15m
* Kiwibank: $290m[2009]