On 8 March we wrote the following:
Was Cullen trying to discourage investors from accepting the Canadian pension plan offer, or was he trying to sucker investors into accepting, thus allowing the rejection of the investment, and an attempt to trap the inexperienced John Key into the privatisation minefield?
If he was trying to discourage take up of the Canadian offer Cullen is clearly a fool. In recent months he announced policy in three areas which some have interpreted as attempts to reduce the attractiveness of the Canadian offer - he announced increased regulation of the NZ airports (share price drops), he announced an end to stapled securities (share price drops), and most recently he announces a change to the OIC regulation (share price drops). If Cullen was attempting to discourage he was clearly a complete idiot. In each instance, the Government policy change made the Canadian pension plan offer more attractive.
News this morning that the Canadian offer has been over-subscribed (62% want to sell) shows how silly Government policy has been - should the Government have been trying to discourage.
Now we await an interesting decision from Ministers.
