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Article: Transpower buys its way out of controversial deal with US firm; GRID OWNERSHIP
- Article from:
- The Press
- Article date:
- October 15, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 The Press. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Transpower has terminated a $700 million deal that threatened
ownership of the South Island's power grid and forced the Government
to tell state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to behave.
Transpower figures show that New Zealand taxpayers have paid
$7.2m to enable the national grid company to get out of the 100-
year deal, and two smaller agreements, that put it and the Labour
government in the spotlight for helping United States bank Wachovia
pay less tax there.
Transpower chief executive Patrick Strange said yesterday the
controversial deals that helped boost the SOE's coffers by more than
$40m were now a thing of the past. "We would not do them again, but
. . . New Zealand Inc/Transpower has ...