Sharechat Logo

Ouch! Another slap for Natural Gas

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Monday 2nd July 2001

Text too small?
Beleaguered energy company Natural Gas (NZSE: NCH) may have to shell out a further $10 million to utilities investor Infratil (NZSE: IFT) after losing an arbitration award.

The spat harks back to NGC's buyback of 26.5 million shares formerly held by Infratil.

NGC has already paid $34.4 million or $1.30 per share to Infratil, but the Arbitrator's award has set the value of the Infratil shares at $1.68 per share.

NGC says the buy-back procedure was invoked by Infratil in April 2000, following NGC shareholder approval of the company's purchase of a 75.8 percent interest in electricity company TransAlta New Zealand.

It's the same purchase that has been causing NGC so much grief recently after being battered by rising wholesale power prices. TransAlta - now called On energy - sold its Christchurch customer base last week and is looking at even more ways to reduce its exposure to the wholesale power market.

Both NGC and its major shareholder, Australian Gas Light, have issued earnings warnings on the back of losses at On energy.

NGC says it is still reviewing the arbitrator's award and has yet to decide if it will appeal.

Natural Gas shares have fallen from around $1.45 at the start of the year to just under 90 cents.

  General Finance Advertising    

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:
Your name:
Your email:
Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Related News:

Infratil sells Manston Airport for 350,000 British pounds to Stagecoach co-founder
Scottish government plans to nationalise Infratil's unprofitable Glasgow Prestwick Airport
Infratil stock undervalued after Z selldown, Wellington Airport worth more, broker says
Infratil plans $65 mln share buy-back to plump up price, flags more dividend growth
Infratil's plans for Z proceeds - debt reduction, buyback, Aussie windfarms
Z listing ups value of Infratil’s remaining stake but reduces earnings
Infratil, NZ Super Fund stand to triple their money on Z Energy investment
Infratil seeks fourth annual increase in fee pool for board
Wellington Airport keeps 2013 returns within regulator's guidelines, engages with carriers over fees
Infratil FY net profit drops to $3.4 mln on UK writedowns, charges