Vector's float a broking bonanza

The initial jostling is over for the spoils of the share float of Auckland energy giant Vector - New Zealand's biggest initial public offering since Contact Energy in 1999.

The booty for sharebroking firms is likely to be 2 per cent to 2.5 per cent of the $550 million to $650 million expected to be raised by selling 24.9 per cent of Vector - $11 million to $16.25 million.

Two firms look set to get the biggest shares.

The Business Herald has been told Goldman Sachs JBWere will take a leading role, as adviser to Auckland energy giant Vector and its owner, the Auckland Energy Consumers Trust.

That will surprise some, as Goldman Sachs was the adviser to gas company NGC when majority shareholder Australian Gas Light put its 66 per cent stake in NGC on the block last year.

That was the stake bought by Vector for $880 million.

The Business Herald was told ABN Amro, the investment bank that advised Vector and part-funded the buy, would be the lead manager for the float.

Neither appointment is yet formal - but insiders depict suggest done deals.

A source said pitches for at least two co-manager roles were likely soon.

A prospectus is to be registered in late June and the company may list in August.

Under the terms of ABN Amro's financing, Vector would face a penalty fee - believed to be $8.8 million - if it failed to float and then repay ABN Amro by mid-October.

The share offer is expected to be in stages to three key groups: the Auckland power users who are the beneficiaries of the consumers' trust, Vector bondholders, and minority shareholders in NGC.

NGC shareholders will be offered Vector shares for their own as part of Vector's efforts to secure full ownership of NGC. "There is unlikely to be a public pool," a source said.

Blockbuster float

* Goldman Sachs JBWere and ABN Amro land roles.
* Sharebrokers to reap up to $16 million.
* Public pool of shares unlikely