30 Apr 2012

Banker critical of efforts to sell asset sale benefits

3:15 pm on 30 April 2012

A key player in the lead-up to the Government's decision to float stakes in state-owned enterprises says the attempts to sell that to the public have been a disaster.

Investment banker Rob Cameron led the Capital Markets Development Taskforce in 2009 which proposed the asset sales.

He says the Government and the Treasury have failed to fully explain the economic benefits of the partial sales.

The National Government plans to sell up to 49% of energy companies Genesis Energy, Meridian Energy, Mighty River Power and Solid Energy and reduce the Crown's shareholding in Air New Zealand.

Mr Cameron says the taskforce recommended the sales as a means to boost the sharemarket to the benefit of investors and capital-starved businesses and the the Government and the Treasury have failed to make those benefits clear.

That has made it much harder for the public to understand the need for the sales and could prevent future sales winning enough political support to get over the line, he says.