What the assets are worth now depends on the future path of electricity prices and the effect that has on the company's cashflows, writes Brian Fallow.

The Government will have to bump up the sweeteners to get enough mum and dad investors to buy into Meridian Energy, an analyst says.

Shares in Mighty River Power ducked below their issue price for the first time since their debut on the NZX today before recovering ground near the close of business.

Shell says its campaign to squeeze untapped gas from the Maui field is meeting expectations as it casts it net to far flung parts of New Zealand's exclusive economic zone.

The Government will waste no time selling down Meridian Energy with Treasury officials expected to meet investment bankers on Monday.

Meridian Energy, New Zealand's biggest and most profitable power company, will be partially privatised later this year, Finance Minister Bill English confirmed in yesterday's Budget.

Research firm UBS has placed a "buy" recommendation on Mighty River Power shares and a 12 month target price of $2.82.

The government will be keen to see Mighty River Power shares trade at a premium to its $2.50 issue price when it lists on the NZX today, fund managers say.

The high number of first-time sharemarket investors buying into Mighty River Power bodes well for the capital markets, says the New Zealand Shareholders Association.

The Government has secured a mid-range price for its sale of Mighty River Power shares but just one in four of those who pre-registered ended up buying shares.

Solid Energy chairman Mark Ford says the struggling energy group - which is to cut another 105 jobs - is a "very different company'' to what it was a year ago.

Solid Energy has confirmed it will shed 105 jobs as it restructures in a bid to stay viable.

Competitive markets don't need regulation. Needlessly over-regulated markets harm the economy and can constrain growth, writes David Parker.

The Grey Power-led petition to force a referendum on the Government’s partial asset sales policy has failed because it did not have enough signatures.

Z Energy's second full year of operation since its sale to local investors by Shell has produced a 13.1 per cent lift in operating earnings, although sales have fallen.

New Zealand's leading business lobby groups say the Labour Party and the Greens have "ambushed" businesses with their controversial electricity policy which they claim sets a "disturbing precedent" for further intervention.

Labour and the Greens have defended their controversial electricity policy after New Zealand's business leaders issued an open letter asking them to withdraw it.