Advisers hired to consider asset sales

Work looking at the costs and benefits of partially selling off Christchurch’s blue-chip assets is about to begin.

Christchurch City Council’s investment arm, Christchurch City Holdings Ltd (CCHL), announced yesterday that it had engaged a consortium of specialist advisers to develop detailed business cases looking into ‘‘rebalancing and returning capital to the council’’. The move follows a decision by the council in December last year to develop detailed business cases about the costs and benefits of partially selling off its assets.

The decision was in line with recommendations from an independent review into CCHL conducted by investment bank and corporate advisory business Northington Partners.

The review concluded that CCHL was ‘‘a significantly underutilised asset’’, and it recommended that the council decrease its ownership in assets including Christchurch Airport, Lyttelton Port and power distribution company Orion.

The review said the council owned a greater proportion of its local assets than any other New Zealand council, and ‘‘effective control’’ could still be retained without necessarily owning 100%.

CCHL chairperson Abby Foote said KPMG, an independent professional services firm, and Mafic, a boutique infrastructure advisory firm, had been appointed to do the work.

Foote said there was considerable interest from companies wanting to do the work, and they were evaluated by a panel of people from CCHL and the council. The final appointment of KPMG and Mafic was approved by the CCHL board.

The two companies would now start to develop a business case and a range of recommended options for the council to consider.

Foote said the council would be involved throughout the process, through a series of workshops, and would have the opportunity to review and consider options as they were developed.

She said the process was about a thorough assessment of the longterm value the council and community could derive from the assets they held. ‘‘What this is not about is providing any predetermined recommendations on the ownership of those assets in the future.’’

The business case was expected to be completed later this year. However, no final decisions would be made until next year. Any recommendations would be considered as part of the council’s 2024-34 long term plan (LTP), where the community could have its say.