Photo: Supplied / Chorus
The government is exploring the potential sale of its stake in telecommunications lines company Chorus in a bid to free up money for other projects next year.
National Infrastructure Funding and Financing or NIFFCo, provided debt and equity funding and will investigate the feasibility of selling the debt and equity securities it holds in Chorus.
If it went ahead with the decision, the money would be redirected to other capital projects.
Nicola Willis Photo: Marika Khabazi
Finance Minister Nicola Willis said with the completion of the ultra-fast broadband fibre initiative, there was no longer a policy reason for the Crown to own Chorus.
"Most New Zealanders were probably not aware the government owns this investment in Chorus, nor feels any particular benefit from it," Willis said.
"That's why it is sensible and prudent to consider the feasibility of divestment to redirect the government's capital stored in Chorus into investments that New Zealanders can benefit from."
Advice on the potential sale will go to the NIFFCo board and shareholding ministers by the end of the year.
Ministers required that for any sale to gain approval, the decision would have to go to market and the financial sale price would have to meet value-for-money expectations.
Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop said he has asked NIFFCo to explore the feasibility of selling the securities to private investors in early 2026, rather than wait for the securities to mature in five to 10 years.
"If such a sale gains approval and goes ahead, the proceeds would return to the Crown and the cash would be made available for capital allocations - that's hospitals, schools, and roads - in Budget 2026," Bishop said.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins at an event in Papatoetoe in Auckland today. Photo: NZ Herald/Jaime Lyth
Sale will 'hock off the family silverware'
Labour leader Chris Hipkins criticised the government's move, accusing Willis of moving to sell off assets to try to prop up the finances.
"Here we go again. This is the National Party failing to invest in New Zealand's future. They can't balance the books and so their response to that is to hock off the family silverware."
In a statement, ACT finance spokesperson Todd Stephenson said the consideration was a "long-overdue step" toward smarter management of Crown assets.
"David Seymour said at the start of the year the government needs to take a hard look at what it owns and why. Today's announcement shows that message is finally sinking in," Stephenson said.
The government should go further, recycling more assets that don't serve the public into productive high-value infrastructure, he said.
"If it makes sense to free up capital from Chorus, then it makes sense to apply the same logic to $14 billion in energy company shares, a $2 billion farming portfolio, NZ Post, and Quotable Value."
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