THE Fiji National Provident Fund has bought a 20 per cent stake in Energy Fiji Ltd for $80 million.
This was revealed by Attorney-General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum in Parliament last night.
He made the comment in response to a question from the Opposition Leader, Sitiveni Rabuka.
Mr Rabuka had asked the A-G to provide an update on the progress made in the sale of government assets as stipulated in the 2019-2020 budget, which indicated $80 million would be raised from such a sale.
“I would like to confirm that that $80 million actually has been raised,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said in response.
Mr Rabuka then asked the A-G whether Government had an inventory of sellable assets and whether local investors would be positively encouraged and incentivised to buy the assets to keep them Fijian-owned.
In response, the A-G said Mr Rabuka would have been aware that the $80 million spoke about the divestment of shares in EFL.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said ANZ was used as the investment adviser in the sale. He explained that Government retained a 51 per cent stake in EFL and 5 per cent was given free to all domestic account holders in Fiji, “provided they fill a form”.
“In respect to the balance of the 44 per cent, 20 per cent we received a bid from FNPF that was acceptable to us and the 20 per cent was of course divested.
“The balance is up in the market, and again local companies and others can of course apply for that.”
