Casting vote secured share plan

Only two of the five trustees of the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust supported the share float plan that is now being executed.

However, a court order stopped John Collinge from voting on the deal - cutting the opposition to two.

Using his chairman's casting vote, Warren Kyd was able to get the IPO deal approved.

The right-leaning Auckland Citizens and Ratepayers Now ticket won a resounding victory in the October 2003 elections. All four had expressed support for a partial privatisation.

But this grouping promptly split, with Collinge and Mike Buczkowski in one camp, Kyd and Karen Sherry in the other.

In June last year, Collinge accused Kyd of floating privatisation ideas that would have taken control of the company away from the trust. Collinge was that same week removed from the Vector board.

Kyd took Collinge to court, saying that Collinge's ownership of Vector capital bonds meant he should not be allowed to vote in the IPO plan.

The fifth trustee, Shale Chambers, opposed privatisation.

The relationship between the trust and the Vector board has often been fraught, with conflicting political and business objectives.

Whether this will change when Vector lists on the NZX will be carefully watched - especially by institutional investors concerned about good governance.