Vector in total control of NGC

The Vector takeover of NGC is complete, with the Auckland energy network company saying it now owns nearly 92 per cent of the company and will move to compulsorily acquire all remaining shares.

A successful takeover is stage one of Vector's partial privatisation by the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust (AECT) and stock exchange float.

Company chairman Michael Stiassny said new Vector shares would trade on the NZSX from Monday.

Of the $592 million of shares being issued, $380 million has been spent buying out NGC shareholders.

Capital bondholder entitlements taken up through the offer totalled $140 million, leaving $72 million available for allocation to AECT beneficiaries.

This is about $10 million more than early indications.

Vector bought 66 per cent of NGC last year from Australian Gas Light, which had owned the lion's share of NGC since 1999.

NGC will now be fully merged into Vector and delisted from the stock exchange.

Vector said yesterday that its annual dividend payout to AECT for the year would be $53.6 million, up from $49.1 million last year.

It is the last time a Vector dividend will be exclusively paid to the trust, which distributes it to 290,000 income beneficiaries - those with power accounts in Auckland City, Manukau City and most of Papakura.

The trust is floating 24.9 per cent of Vector and keeping the rest of the shares under its ownership.

New investors will now share in the annual dividends, but Stiassny and the AECT say the purchase of NGC means a much larger company and much larger dividends.

They say annual payments to beneficiaries (which come in the form of rebates on power accounts) will double once NGC is made part of Vector.

NGC shares have consistently traded on the open market at prices well above the $3.40 a share Vector is offering.