The Government has announced binding agreements to monetise the value of it’s interest-free loans made to Chorus to help fund the Ultra-Fast Broadband rollout.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis said the transaction would deliver net proceeds of about $702m, compared with the loans’ book value of $642m.
Willis said the proceeds had been anticipated in Budget 2026, which she said meant it could fund more infrastructure, including roads, hospital upgrades and classrooms, though she did not say the money would be specifically be earmarked for those projects.
The transaction represents a gain of more than $60m over book value, although the total proceeds had already been anticipated in this year’s Budget.
The deal also appears to include some form of limited investor protection through NIFFCo, or National Infrastructure Funding and Financing Limited, a Crown-owned company set up as the government’s shopfront for private capital investment in public infrastructure.
However, the government has not disclosed the nature, scale, or potential Crown exposure involved.
Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop said ministers had agreed NIFFCo could give investors “limited protection for unlikely risks” to get better value from the transaction, so more funds were available for reinvestment now.
The transaction does not change the ownership of Chorus, or the services and assets it provides or owns.
Settlement is expected to happen this month.