More disclosure for SOEs

Each of the nine largest State Owned Enterprises has introduced a regime that requires greater disclosure, State Owned Enterprises Minister Simon Power said today.

NZ Railways Corporation, Transpower, Meridian, Mighty River Power, Landcorp, Genesis, NZ Post, Solid Energy and Kordia have begun a regime that requires, subject to certain exemptions, the continuous disclosure of:

• The fundamental terms of material transactions entered into.
  
• Information that has a material impact on the SOE's commercial value.

The disclosure regime also requires each SOE to publicly announce certain financial results within 60 days of the end of each half and full financial year.

"It's important that the performance of SOEs is transparent, and the introduction of the disclosure regime will go some way towards increasing this," Mr Power said.

"The regime has been in place since 1 January 2010, and will be reviewed mid-way through this year.  An assessment will be made at that time as to whether or not to extend it to incorporate all SOEs."

The Government expects SOEs to improve performance by focusing on how they are running their businesses, where the potential for productivity lies, and how they compare with their private sector counterparts.

Ministers have been driving an agenda that encourages greater performance by SOEs, including the introduction of the disclosure regime which is comparable to that which applies to publicly listed companies.