Amy Adams - Finance
22 August 2018
An independent report released today by TDB Advisory shows that the Mixed Ownership Model introduced under the previous
National Government has been an overwhelming success, National’s Finance spokesperson Amy Adams says.
“The Mixed Ownership process successfully generated $4.7 billion for public infrastructure such as schools, hospitals
and broadband and TDB’s findings highlight the wider issue with the Government’s ideological opposition to private
sector involvement in funding new assets.
“The partial sell-down of Genesis, Meridian and Mercury began in 2013 and had three simple objectives: to lower
Government debt; to increase investment opportunities for ‘mum and dad’ investors; and to improve the financial
performance of each company.
“TDB’s study shows all of these objectives have been achieved.
“The most striking finding is that despite electricity prices being flat-to-falling over the period of the Mixed
Ownership Model, shareholder returns have increased by 69 percent and the Government has received higher dividends
despite owning a lower share of each company.
“The report also shows that opposition to the Mixed Ownership Model was misplaced. It didn’t lead to higher electricity
prices. And it didn’t result in a drop-off in renewable energy generation, which has increased over the period.
“The current Government has an irrational opposition to the private sector. Labour’s ideological resistance to
Private-Public Partnerships to build public assets means a number of important projects are failing to get off the
ground.
“The Government shouldn’t shut itself off from ideas such as Private-Public Partnerships or Mixed Ownership purely on
ideological grounds. Evidence, not ideology, should drive good policy.
ends