The Treasury wants a list of brokers who will target retail investors in shares of partially privatised energy companies.
The department is seeking to appoint a panel of firms for the retail, or so-called "Mum and Dad" component of the government's mixed ownership model, where it will sell down minority stakes in Mighty River Power, Meridian Energy, Genesis Energy, and Solid Energy, and reduce its holding in national carrier Air New Zealand.
The Treasury is expecting as many as 250,000 retail investor applications for each of the power company sell-downs. When the government privatised Contact Energy in 1999, it attracted more than 160,000 retail investors.
The government expects to spend $100 million in investment bank fees as it seeks to raise between $5 billion and $7 billion from the floats. The cash raised will be used to fund investment in new infrastructure, with the loss-making KiwiRail's network upgrade first in line.
The Treasury has issued a request for proposal from firms interested in running the offer to retail investors for the sell-down of MRP later this year, as well as putting their name on the list for future transactions. The offer was published on the Government Electronic Tender Service today.