Contact Energy in trading halt; Origin exit plan imminent

Contact Energy shares have been placed in a trading halt on the NZX, pending an announcement about its majority shareholder Origin Energy's exit from the company.

Australian business media have speculated that Origin, which owns 53.1 percent of the Wellington based electricity generator/retailer and owner of gas distribution and LPG businesses, is seeking to sell down or exit its holding in Contact as it deals with balance sheet pressures created by a A$25 billion liquefied natural gas project in Queensland, which has suffered cost over-runs and a slump in the global price of gas.

Origin first invested in Contact in 2003, taking over the cornerstone shareholding originally purchased by California based Edison Mission Energy in the first state owned electricity company privatisation in 1999.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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.

Anti-spam verification:

Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.

Related News:

BPG - Amended FY26 Annual Report and Presentation
WIN - Winton - Chris Meehan resigns as Directo
TEM - Transaction in Own Shares
WCO - Share Purchase Plan
SKT - Sky ASM and Closing Date for Director Nominations
September 11th Morning Report
MEL - Dividend reinvestment plan strike price
MKR - High Grade Gold Drill Intersections from Pipeline Ridge
KMD - ASM Date and Closing Date for Director Nominations
PCT - Sale of PwC Tower now unconditional