Cullen pays 6 fold more than KiwiRail worth

It is no surprise that the purchase of Toll Holdings rail assets earlier this year were overpaid for but Kiwis can now officially know just how much.

In a report sneaked out by Treasury and written about at the NBR on September 16:

Documents posted on the Treasury website reveal that in late 2006 officials valued the New Zealand’s rail system at $120 million, some $570 million less than the price the government paid for the business in July this year.

The paper trail clearly shows that throughout the lengthy sale process, Toll had the upper hand in the negotiations because it knew the government was not buying for commercial reasons. Toll also knew that the crown was under time pressure because it had to continue adequate funding to secure the financial viability of the rail business.

We are supposed to trust this individual to manage the New Zealand economy over the current recession given he spends taxpayer money like a drunken socialist?

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c Political Animal 2008