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Article: Port sale plan angers locals
- Article from:
- The Press
- Article date:
- February 15, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2006 The Press. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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A proposal to sell a share of the Port of Lyttelton to a Hong Kong
company has raised the hackles of Lyttelton locals and foreign
ownership critics who say the deal is short-sighted and naive.
On Monday, Christchurch City Holdings Ltd (CCHL) -- the investment
arm of the Christchurch City Council -- launched an ambitious bid to
buy the 31% of the publicly listed company it does not already own
and then on-sell 49.9% of the port company to Hong Kong- based port
developer Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH).
The deal would leave CCHL with $41 million in its pocket and a
50.1% controlling stake in the port, but critics say the deal is
giving up the region's biggest trade asset for a short-term cash ...