Hawke's Bay Regional Council establishes CCO to sell Napier Port

Hawke's Bay Regional Council has voted to establish the organisation which will sell Napier Port. Photo / File

Hawke's Bay Regional Council has voted to establish a new Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) to facilitate the sale of Napier Port, and passed protections for the majority shareholders.

Councillor Neil Kirton said establishing the CCO (Napier Port Holdings Limited) was simply a technical decision, and the decision was passed by a unanimous vote.

Majority shareholder protections passed included appointing two, non-independent members to the board of Napier Port Holdings, and the Napier Port Board, which will have the same members on them.

Kirton asked for the wording to be changed to specify the "non-independent" members be councillors, however this did not pass due to it not being seconded.

Kirton said the public wanted to see councillor oversight on the CCO board.

Councillor Tom Belford agreed with the change, but was unable to second it as he had moved the original recommendation.

Councillor Debbie Hewitt said she was strongly opposed to councillor directors sitting in the commercial space of port directors.

"I think this should be left in the hands of commercial advisors.

"Our window as representatives as this regional council strategic asset will be through the NZX listing rules, which permits us as regional councillors to vote on the appointment and removal of all directors.

"Any of the councillors around this table who believe that by having councillor-appointed directors on that port board, are going to get some insight into what's going on are just simply dreaming.

"All directors around that table will be bound by the Companies Act and all other relevant legislation."

Councillors could still be appointed as directors to the new company, as the wording "non-independent directors" does not exclude them.

Regional Council Chairman Rex Graham said existing legislation would also provide protection to council as majority shareholders.

"Through confirming two majority shareholder-appointed directors and providing for additional protection of its majority ownership position, the Regional Council will gain a more direct level of involvement in the governance of Napier Port on behalf of the local community under a minority IPO."

The sell down of Napier Port has been approved "in-principle", with the final vote on the issue happening on May 1 of this year.