By NZPA
|
Wednesday 16th October 2002 |
Text too small? |
Under the proposal put to shareholders at a special meeting today, UnitedNetworks' shareholders approved the sale of the company's Eastern Electricity network to Powerco and Hawke's Bay Network Limited, and its Central Gas network to Powerco.
UnitedNetworks chairman Wayne Boyd said in a statement today that agreements for the asset sales was a condition of Vector's takeover offer of UnitedNetworks, announced in September.
Vector is offering $9.90 for all UnitedNetworks shares, and has advised UnitedNetworks that it has so far reached a shareholding of 81.4 percent.
Vector's offer closes on 23 October.
Vector will recover nearly $1 billion of the purchase price of UnitedNetworks through the sale of the non-Auckland gas network to New Plymouth-based Powerco for $220 million and the sale of the power lines business in southern and eastern Waikato, the Thames Valley and Coromandel, Tauranga and Hawkes Bay for $785 million.
Currently publicly owned, the trust that controls Vector is planning to float 25 percent of the newly merged company.
The asset sale agreement with Powerco is conditional on Powerco shareholder approval, which will be sought at a meeting on October 29.
Settlement of the asset sales is expected to be completed in early November.
Powerco will pay $810 million for the gas pipelines and electricity networks, boosting its profit 62 percent in the next two years.
Powerco plans to sell $150 million of shares to existing shareholders to help it buy the assets. It will also borrow about $685 million from a syndicate of banks.
United States energy giant Aquila, which owns 70 percent of UnitedNetworks, has already accepted the Vector offer, and is waiting for approval from its banks before the sale of its shares is finalised.
No comments yet
Two listed lines companies make the grade
Special Report: Electricity - Worth A Flutter?
