For the Govt calmer international waters would have been preferable for a big float like Genesis, particularly as so many small investors have been encouraged to take part, writes Greg Fraser.

Prices and who controls them is already an issue for this year's election, writes Fran O'Sullivan. The "market rules OK?" is not the kind of slogan that opposition parties are chanting.

Intense investor interest in the upcoming float of Genesis Energy is forcing a heavy scaling back of broker and institutional share allocations well before the April 14 deadline.

Five research reports into the value of Genesis Energy shares have been released by the NZX this morning. Read them all here.

Pricing for the Genesis Energy share offer means the Govt's controversial partial asset sales programme will just make it over the line for the revised $4.6b to $5b target set after Solid Energy was taken off the block.

The Treasury would have liked more "Mum and Dad" small investors to have bought shares in electricity generators Mighty River Power and Meridian Energy.

The share price for Genesis Energy will likely be set in the mid to upper end of its range in light of the Government's decision to sell up to the full 49 per cent, say analysts.

The Treasury has finally developed a fair and widely accepted process for the Genesis Energy IPO, writes Brian Gaynor.

Genesis Energy could end up being the most costly sale in the Government's partial privatisation programme as a proportion of its proceeds.

Shares in state-owned power generator and retailer Genesis Energy will be priced in a $1.35 to $1.65 range and include a one-for-15 loyalty bonus share offer as a sweetener.

The Government says shares in Genesis Energy will be priced in a $1.35 to $1.65 range and would include a loyalty bonus share offer.

The average power bill for a family of four will rise by 2.4 per cent this year, Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges said yesterday.

Full details of the Genesis Energy float will be released today including the price range for the shares, a bonus share scheme and the timetable for its sharemarket listing.

Independent research house Morningstar has valued state-owned Genesis Energy at around $1.69 billion to $1.89 billion in total, or about $3.25 to $3.50 a share.

The Govt's move to set the share price for the Genesis Energy float before retail investors have to pay up has won approval from an investment expert.

The Government may end up selling as little as 30 per cent of Genesis Energy over the next month.

The sharemarket float of Genesis Energy - the details of which are due out today - is likely to proceed along standard lines.

The National Government's flagship partial asset sales policy will end in the next month with the sale of Genesis Energy, said John Key.

John Key has confirmed the partial privatisation of Genesis Energy will begin soon but has underlined the sale will be the last one under a National Government.

Newly NZX-listed Meridian Energy beat its prospectus forecast for earnings thanks to high inflows to hydro lakes.

Prime Minister John Key has defended his Government's $30 million payout to the owners of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter after the Greens and Labour said parent company Rio Tinto's US$3.7 billion profit showed the payment was unjustified.

Profits are up 10pc at world mining giant Rio Tinto - in a year where NZ taxpayers paid the company $30m to keep the Tiwai Pt smelter open.

Editorial: The real reason for the asset sales, all along, has been to put all four of the big electricity generating companies on the same competitive footing.

Details of how the Government plans to float Genesis Energy could be out by the end of next month, but fund managers say it will need to be heavily discounted.