Port company starting life $25M in debt

Press, 29 September 1988, Page 1

Port company starting life $25M in debt

By TOM METCALFE 7 The Lyttelton Port Company will inherit $25 million of Harbour Board'debts; ~ ' The debts are part of the price to be paid for the port’s commercial operations, which have been valued at S34M by the national accountancy firm, Deloitte Haskins Sells, on behalf of the board. The valuation will be submitted to the Ministry of Transport for Ministerial approval, and could change by several million dollars, according to the general manager of the board, Mr lan Brokenshire. Interest payments on the $25 million debt were about $4.3 million a year, and would be a large cost to the port company, he said. The port company, which takes over running the port on Saturday, will be wholly owned by the Harbour Board. The company will assume all the functions of the Harbour Board except for the board’s noncommercial activities, such as

the provision of recreation facilities and various statutory duties. A plan of the new company

including the Deloitte Haskins Sells valuation, was released after a special meeting of the Harbour Board yesterday. The company plan did not include a valuation of the Harbour Board assets to be taken over by the port company, or any profit projections for the company. Mr Brokenshire said asset valuations, cargo forecasts and profit projections for the company were commercially sensitive, and would not be released. Harbour Board assets to be taken over by the company include land in Lyttelton and Heathcote, buildings, harbour structures, motor vehicles, plant and equipment and harbour vessels. Mr Brokenshire said that while the Harbour Board had always, taken a commercial attitude in the running of the port, commercial goals would become even more defined under the new port company.