The NZ government is to reduce its 73 per cent share holding in Air New Zealand to 53 per cent. Source: AAP
THE New Zealand government has announced it is to start the process of selling down its 73 per cent ownership of Air New Zealand to around 53 per cent.
Finance Minister Bill English and State Owned Enterprises Minister Tony Ryall say the process of selling to brokers and institutions will start on Monday and be completed by Tuesday evening.
The sale will be done and dusted just days before a referendum on the government's asset sales program, which has so far seen it sell 49 per cent each of electricity companies Mighty River Power and Meridian Energy.
During the week the government denied speculation that it had decided to sell down its Air NZ shares but the announcement was then made on Sunday.
The government owns 73 per cent of the national carrier, which is already listed on both the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges. Because it is already listed the shares can be sold much more quickly than those of the power companies.
The government wants to drop its ownership to 53 per cent.
Mr Ryall says Air New Zealand's shares are currently trading at a five-year high, making it an opportune time to conduct the sale.
The government says New Zealanders will be at the front of the queue for shares and it is confident they will still own at least 85 per cent of the airline.
Air NZ will go into a trading halt on Monday and Tuesday and New Zealanders are urged to contact their broker if they are interested.
It is believed the sale could raise the government about $NZ400 million ($A359 million).
Mr Ryall said the government had so far raised $NZ3.6 billion from the partial sales of Mighty River and Meridian earlier this year.
Until now, the expectation was that power company Genesis Energy would be the next to be sold down.
The government had said it hoped to raise $NZ5 billion and $NZ7 billion from its assets sales but is now revising that down.
It hopes to invest the money in new assets and new infrastructure without the need to borrow money overseas.
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