Solid Energy acting chairman Andy Coupe admitted it was "unlikely" that any sale, or sales, would cover its outstanding debt.

Genesis Energy announced its last two coal-burning electricity generators at Huntly Power Station will be shut down.

Mr Key said Solid Energy had $300 million of outstanding debt and was in a "precarious position".

The national rail network is an asset that should survive and be put to its best-possible use.

No other advanced economy in the world would allow almost all of its banking system to be owned overseas, writes Paul Glass. "Let's require the big four banks to list 25 per cent of just their NZ operations on the NZ Stock Exchange."

Christchurch City Council is seeking independent financial advice on a proposal to sell key assets to pay for the city rebuild.

Shares in Mighty River Power and Meridian Energy have been coming off the boil, but there are few obvious reasons for a recent slump in their stock prices.

Mark Lister says the Crown got $1.8b for selling a Meridian stake now worth more than $3.2b.

While our equity or net worth is $70 billion it is $35 billion worse than 2008 due to liabilities, especially debt, growing faster than assets.

Winston Peters writes: There is a group of people who want to get rid of the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust. But why fix what isn't broken?

Power companies' margins on retail electricity tariffs are unsustainably high, says a new report on listed NZ electricity stocks.

Genesis has raised US$150 million in its first issue of notes in the US private placement market and will use the funds to repay bank debt.

Land bought by Meridian for its controversial $2b wind farm is on the market spelling the final chapter of the failed project.

The Finance Minister says the proceeds from selling state houses are unlikely to be spent on new state houses and may go into the Consolidated Account.

Tainui says it wants to spend "tens of millions of dollars" on buying up state houses as Bill English signals an open market for the country's 68,000 Housing NZ properties.

Investors in listed power companies appear to be betting the National Party will retain the government benches at Saturday's general election.

National's $212 million plan to fast-track regional road projects using asset sales cash is not backed by a strong economic case, OIA documents reveal.

Analysts have mixed views on the outlook for the upcoming earnings season as some of NZ's biggest and most widely held firms prepare to report their annual results.

Auckland councillors are divided on the privatisation of Queen Elizabeth Square in downtown Auckland, but voted 14-7 today to approve in principle the disposal of the land worth upwards of $60 million to Precinct Properties.

Auckland councillors will tomorrow consider the privatisation of Queen Elizabeth Square in downtown Auckland for a mall.

The National Government's asset sale programme is complete but the debate about the process just won't go away.

Shares in Genesis Energy closed up 26c to $1.81 after the first day of trading.

For the Govt calmer international waters would have been preferable for a big float like Genesis, particularly as so many small investors have been encouraged to take part, writes Greg Fraser.

Prices and who controls them is already an issue for this year's election, writes Fran O'Sullivan. The "market rules OK?" is not the kind of slogan that opposition parties are chanting.

Intense investor interest in the upcoming float of Genesis Energy is forcing a heavy scaling back of broker and institutional share allocations well before the April 14 deadline.

Five research reports into the value of Genesis Energy shares have been released by the NZX this morning. Read them all here.