Auckland Airport bid slam dunked

election year gambits rule

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...

That quite possibly cost them my vote. BASTARDS

From a quick read of OIO's decision and then the Ministers, it looks like OIO said they should give consent and the Ministers turned around and said no...

yeh this hurts (not financially) but takes away my esteem for this government.
As others are saying , we cosy up to the Chinese but wont allow a passive investment from North Americans.

what is up with that? its unbelievable.

the govt said quite firmly that they believed NZers didn't want foreign ownership of what few strategic assets we have left (bob agrees) - and in typical labour fashion have made a bit of a pigs ear out of this bid

christ why do they do so much that is arse about face... they are way more competant than that... yet have done this sort of thing for 3 terms

And Gareth agrees - except AIA was already 40% owned by offshore investors!!! And they were exactly the wrong kind of investor (short-term hedgeys) compared to a long-term stable pension investor which would have actually INCREASED NZ-based control over the asset. That horse had already bolted - you could nationalise it to get it back in the stable (metaphor may be running a bit thin here) but that's about all.
This has just punished a bunch of people who bought on a free market from the Government 8 years ago and have now been told they can't sell their chunk on a free market. And made any other potential investors in our infrastructure assets less likely to provide us capital.
I'm certainly unhappy because it cost me thousands of dollars, but also (in an attempt at objectivity) because it is a terrible decision that doesn't actually help the stated intentions.

*buys gareth a beer*

Thanks man!
Actually, perfect call. I'm off home for beer galore (how the fuck do you spell that word anyway??)

I totally agree. I'm not for the sale (majority at least) of major assets... If Labour had said from day one "it's not happening" this would be totally fine and be consigned to history by now. Instead they essentially let people waste masses of time and money preparing bids, considering all angles.. re-bidding, engaging the govt, fielding tons of media inquiries and answering tons of questions asked by potential investors... when pretty much all of it could have been avoided.

R

I wonder how the Chinese bid for Vector's Wellington business will go.

I cannot but conclude that the AIA decision is purely political opportunism.