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State-owned enterprises (SOEs) in New Zealand are registered companies listed under Schedules 1 and 2 of the State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986. Most SOEs are former government departments or agencies that were corporatised. They are responsible to the Minister for State Owned Enterprises.
Many other government-owned companies and statutory trading organisations are referred to informally as "state-owned enterprises" although they are not SOEs in the strictest sense. These are also listed here.
The function of SOEs is to operate successfully as a business, as profitable as those not owned by the Crown. The section of the Act defining this is usually interpreted as meaning that SOEs are expected to ready themselves for privatisation, though this is not always the case.
Two Ministers of the Crown act as the shareholding ministers in the company. In the case of SOEs these are usually the Minister for State Owned Enterprises (see article for list) and the Minister responsible for the particular company.
The Crown is assisted in the running of SOEs and other Crown-owned companies by the Treasury's Commercial Operations group (formerly the Crown Ownership Monitoring Unit).[1]
The state enterprises are listed in Schedule 1 of the State-owned Enterprises Act.[2]
| Name | Date created | Formerly | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airways New Zealand | 1 April 1987 | Part of the Ministry of Transport | Air traffic control and air navigation providers |
| Animal Control Products | 1991 | ||
| AsureQuality | 2007 | ASURE NZ Ltd and AgriQuality Ltd | |
| Electricity Corporation of New Zealand | 1 April 1987[3] | NZE, NZED, State Hydro Department | Shell of previous electricity utility. Assets transferred to Contact, Genesis, Meridian, Mighty River |
| KiwiRail Holdings Limited | 1 July 2008 | Toll New Zealand (rolling stock and inter-island ferries) Ontrack (track and infrastructure) | Formerly New Zealand Rail (1990–1995), Tranz Rail (1995–2002), Toll New Zealand (2002–2008) |
| Kordia | 1 July 1989 | Subsidiary of Television New Zealand | Formerly Broadcast Communications Limited or BCL, renamed 2006. |
| Landcorp | 1 April 1987 | Commercial arm of Department of Survey and Land Information | |
| MetService | July 1992 | Part of the Ministry of Transport | Known as MetService |
| NZ Post | 1 April 1987 | New Zealand Post Office | Telecom New Zealand, PostBank split off 1987. |
| New Zealand Railways Corporation | 31 December 2012 | Owns the land underneath KiwiRail's network | |
| Quotable Value | 2005 | Valuation NZ | Property valuation, particularly for local authority rating purposes |
| Transpower New Zealand | 1994 | Subsidiary of Electricity Corporation of New Zealand | National grid operator |
The following table lists entities that are monitored by Treasury, but are not state enterprises (see table above).[1] For a more complete list of government entities and organisations, see Public sector organisations in New Zealand.
| Name | Date created | Formerly | Government ownership |
Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accident Compensation Corporation | ||||||||
| AgResearch | 1992 | Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, DSIR | ||||||
| Air New Zealand | 1 April 1965 | Tasman Empire Airways Limited, National Airways Corporation | 51.95%[4] | Largely privatised in 1989, government subsequently bought a 73% stake in 2001, and sold down to 53% in November 2013. | ||||
| Christchurch Airport | 25% | 75% owned by Christchurch City Council[5] | ||||||
| Crown Asset Management Limited | ||||||||
| Crown Fibre Holdings Limited | ||||||||
| Dunedin Airport | 1989 | 50% | ||||||
| Earthquake Commission | 1945 | |||||||
| Genesis Energy Limited | 1999 | Part of Electricity Corporation of New Zealand | 52.4%[6] | Floated on the sharemarket April 2014. | ||||
| Government Superannuation Fund Authority | ||||||||
| Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation | ||||||||
| Hawke's Bay Airport Limited | ||||||||
| Housing New Zealand Corporation | ||||||||
| Institute of Environmental Science and Research Limited | 1992 | DSIR | ||||||
| Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences Limited | 1992 | DSIR | ||||||
| Landcare Research New Zealand Limited | ||||||||
| Mercury Energy | 1999 | Part of Electricity Corporation of New Zealand | 51.15%[7] | Floated on the sharemarket in May 2013. | ||||
| Meridian Energy | 1999 | Part of Electricity Corporation of New Zealand | 51.02%[8] | Floated on the sharemarket in October 2013. | ||||
| National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research Limited | ||||||||
| National Provident Fund | ||||||||
| Network for Learning Limited | ||||||||
| New Zealand Forest Research Institute Limited | ||||||||
| New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency | ||||||||
| New Zealand Lotteries Commission | ||||||||
| New Zealand Venture Investment Limited | ||||||||
| Public Trust | ||||||||
| Radio New Zealand | ||||||||
| Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand Limited | ||||||||
| Southern Response Earthquake Services Limited | ||||||||
| Tamaki Redevelopment Company | ||||||||
| Television New Zealand | ||||||||
| The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited | 1 December 2008 | HortResearch and Crop and Food Research |
Former state-owned enterprises come in three forms – those removed from the Schedules of the Act and made Crown entities, those removed and not privatised, and those removed and privatised. Well-known SOEs that became Crown entity companies include broadcasting companies Television New Zealand (TVNZ) and Radio New Zealand (RNZ).
- Timberlands West Coast Limited, wound up in 2008
- Learning Media Limited, wound up in 2013
- Solid Energy, wound up in 2018
Privatised state-owned enterprises
Privatised state-owned enterprises include:[9]
- Bank of New Zealand (BNZ); sold to National Australia Bank in 1992
- Contact Energy – sold to cornerstone shareholder and sharemarket float in 1999
- DFC New Zealand Limited – went bankrupt in 1989 and later liquidated
- Export Guarantee Office
- Fairway Resolutions
- GCS Limited – formerly Government Computing Services, purchased by EDS New Zealand
- Government Printing Office – became GP Print,[10] Whitcoulls, Blue Star Group and Webstar[11][12]
- Government Supply Brokerage Corporation (NZ) Limited
- Health Computing Service
- National Film Unit – purchased by Peter Jackson and renamed Park Road Post
- New Zealand Rail Limited (The rail operations of the Railways Corporation) – later renationalised as KiwiRail.
- New Zealand Steel Limited – purchased by BHP
- Post Office Bank Limited (Postbank) – sold to ANZ
- Radio New Zealand (Commercial Stations) – Sold to Clear Channel to form The Radio Network. Non-commercial stations RNZ National and RNZ Concert remain.
- Rural Banking and Finance Corporation – purchased by the National Bank of New Zealand)
- Shipping Corporation of New Zealand – sold to P&O, 1989
- State Insurance Office
- Telecom Corporation of New Zealand Limited – copper network later unbundled between 2006–2008
- Terralink International – GIS provider
- Tourist Hotel Corporation of New Zealand Limited
- Vehicle Testing New Zealand, sold in 1999 to the Motor Trade Association
- Works and Development Services Corporation New Zealand Ltd which remained in state ownership after the sale of Works Civil Construction Ltd to Downer & Company. Company has been struck off Companies Office register on 21 May 2005.
![[icon]](#/media/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2007) |
- State Insurance
- Tourist Hotel Corporation
- Government Life Insurance Corporation – later renamed Tower Insurance
- National Airways Corporation – merged with Air New Zealand in 1980
Other, non-SOE Crown-owned companies are the Crown entity companies. These are the Crown Research Institutes (CRIs), the broadcasting companies Television New Zealand Limited (TVNZ) and Radio New Zealand Limited (RNZ), and the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund Limited.
- Constitutional economics
- Council-controlled organisation – a New Zealand local government equivalent
- Crown entity
- List of government-owned companies
- Political economy
- Public sector organisations in New Zealand (lists SOEs and Crown entities)
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