National shuts Mums and Dads out of Genesis sale

National has deliberately cut Mum and Dad investors from the Genesis sale, restricting them to just nine per cent of the shares while selling the rest to the Government’s investor friends, Labour Leader David Cunliffe says.

“When promoting asset sales National said Mum and Dad investors would be at the front of the queue – instead the Government has slammed the door shut on them.

“Investors will be smiling all the way to the bank because this is a fire sale. The most the Government can get out of the sale is $800 million, which is a $300 million discount on Genesis’ value.

“Institutions will make a killing out of that.

“This is the low point of National’s failed asset sales policy. Even with the best price possible from Genesis they will fall short of their promised $5 billion – $7 billion.

“Kiwis always knew that asset sales were going to be a failure. That’s why they voted overwhelmingly against them in the referendum.

“As usual it turns out that New Zealanders were right and National was wrong,” David Cunliffe says.

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