Continuous disclosure

One of the more eagerly watched stocks on the NZX over the past two months has been that of Vector - the Auckland-based energy network company that recently sold 24.9 per cent of its shares in a $593 million initial public offering (IPO).

Beneficiaries of the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust - anyone with electricity accounts in Auckland City, Manukau City and much of Papakura District - were invited to buy shares in a limited pool.

Because of high demand, the maximum allocated was scaled back to 1322 shares, worth $3146.

The shares were issued at $2.38 each and finished the first day's trading at $3.02 - a 26 per cent jump. Existing bondholders paid $2.32 for each new Vector share.

Of the 47,000 new Vector shareholders, 32,000 are thought to have got their shares through the beneficiary pool.

So how have they gone since first listing on August 15?

Well, up, up then down.

For someone who bought shares on the first day, the value of their shares went up 10 per cent in the first two weeks.

Since then the shares have fallen in value by more than 8 per cent, meaning they are worth 1.4 per cent more this week than in mid -August.

Vector shares peaked on August 24, when they traded for $3.34 each.

They then started falling, touching a bottom of $2.92 on October 21.

After a busy first few weeks of trading, the volume of shares changing hands has been fairly stable, averaging 1,344,671 shares a day.

This month, the number trading each day has ranged between a low of 195,811 and a high of 2.1 million.

More than 7 million were bought and sold on the opening day, with the 7 million daily mark hit only once since then, on September 2.

The company is owned by the publicly elected Auckland Energy Consumer Trust and 24.9 per cent was sold to new investors in the IPO.