Asset sale 'no bonanza'

Photo / File photo

The listing of state-owned assets will not be a big bonanza for the local market, according to a Treasury report.

The Government this week floated the idea of extending Air New Zealand's mixed ownership model to state-owned electricity companies Mighty River Power, Meridian, Genesis and coal miner Solid Energy. The state would keep majority control but the companies would list on the sharemarket.

New Zealand's capital markets are underdeveloped, the Treasury says. But it says that the listing of 25 per cent of all three state-owned electricity companies would increase NZX's capitalisation by only about 5 per cent.