Hawke's Bay Regional Council confirms minority share port sale

Port workers will get first dibs at buying shares in the port and locals will also be prioritised. Photo / File

Hawke's Bay Regional Council will go ahead with selling a minority share in Napier Port, subject to a final pricing decision to be made in June, during a public excluded meeting on Wednesday.

Hawke's Bay locals wanting to buy shares in Napier Port will be offered a guaranteed minimum allocation of shares and there would be a period for locals to pre-register their interest before an offer opened.

There would also be a priority offer for Port staff.

Deutsche Craigs and Goldman Sachs NZ have been appointed as joint lead managers for the sale, and Forsyth Barr is a co-manager.

Councillor Rick Barker and chief executive of Hawke's Bay Regional Investment Company Blair O'Keeffe have been confirmed as directors of the Napier Port Board, subject to final approval of the IPO.

Regional council chairman Rex Graham said a minority IPO meets regional council objectives and satisfied the terms upon which the council consulted the Hawke's Bay community.

"We have agreed today that a 45 per cent IPO of Napier Port will deliver the funds needed to enable the Port to invest in its future growth, while protecting ratepayers from the costs, diversifying the regional council's income streams and maintaining majority ownership and control.

"We set a range of conditions around a potential IPO on 19 December last year and these will be met.

"The last hurdle is to satisfy ourselves around pricing and market conditions and we expect to make that decision in June with, all things being equal, an offer of shares in Napier Port occurring from early July."

Graham said Wednesday's commitment to an IPO reflected the hard work that many people have put into striking the right balance for Hawke's Bay.

Napier Port chairman Alasdair MacLeod said he welcomed the progress.

He said the port had prepared for this and said the board looked forward to making an offer of shares, pending the final regional council decision to proceed.

MacLeod said the port understood the public interest in the project and would be releasing further information about the IPO as soon as it can following the final council decision in June.

An "in principle" decision was made to sell a minority share in the port in December last year.