Barry Maggie: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBarry Maggie: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 05 March 2014. Volume:696;Page:16323. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]3.MAGGIE BARRY (National—North Shore) to theMinister of Finance: What progress is the Government making with its share offer programme which is freeing up money for reinvestment in new public assets without having to increase Government debt?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance): Last week the Government confirmed that the last of its share offers for a minority shareholding in Genesis Energy will proceed later this month. The offer is expected to open in the second half of March with the company likely to be listed on the market around mid-April. All of this of course is subject to market conditions. We will set out the details for the float over the next few weeks. As with the other share offers New Zealanders will be at the front of the queue and we remain committed to at least 85 percent Kiwi ownership. The Genesis Energy share offer will be structured to meet the Government’s objectives of achieving good value for taxpayers as well as providing opportunities for New Zealand investors.Maggie Barry: What were some of the Government’s objectives for the share offer programme and have those objectives been met?Hon BILL ENGLISH: One of the objectives was to enable the Government to finance new infrastructure with the savings of New Zealanders rather than by borrowing from foreign banks. There were also a number of other objectives. We wanted to help to deepen the capital markets so that as New Zealand goes into a growth phase more New Zealand businesses can go to the public market to raise the capital they need in order to invest in New Zealanders’ skills and higher incomes in the future. It has also enabled us to free up money for reinvesting in priority public assets like schools hospitals and ultra-fast broadband. So far we have raised around $4 billion to do that and that is $4 billion of New Zealanders’ savings rather than $4 billion of borrowing from foreign banks.Maggie Barry: What are some of the features of the Genesis share offer that will help build interest among New Zealand investors?Hon BILL ENGLISH: It is obviously up to investors to decide what level of interest they take in the share offer but the Government will introduce new features to the Genesis offer. First the shares will be priced at the start of the offer period which means that Kiwi investors know the price when they apply for shares. Secondly we have expanded the range of what we expect to sell to 30 to 49 percent of the shares subject to market conditions. The Government wants to be able to test demand in the market before making a final decision. We will also be offering a loyalty bonus scheme and a more succinct investment statement for retail investors.Maggie Barry: Without the share offer programme what alternative approaches could the Government have taken to pay for new public assets such as schools and hospitals?Hon BILL ENGLISH: There are other ways of financing it for instance increasing taxes or introducing new ones such as the dopey internet tax the Labour Party is proposing. Another option would be not to invest in these public assets and to tell New Zealanders to make do with what they have. We did not do that. We could have gone out and borrowed $4 billion from foreign bankers whom the Opposition would rather we do business with but we chose to go to New Zealand savers. Finally there is another option. We could have set up a trust and asked for secret donations!