Wellington Power lines sold to Chinese

NZPA has reported:

New Zealand’s overseas investment watchdog has approved a Chinese conglomerate’s bid to buy Vector’s Wellington power lines network.

Vector sought approval earlier this year for the $785 million deal to sell 100 percent of the shares of Vector Wellington Electricity Network Limited to Hong Kong-based Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings (CKI) and Hongkong Electric Holdings Limited (HKE).

Now I don’t care at all who owns my power lines, but isn’t it ironic that the Government moved heaven and earth to stop a Canadian pension fund having a minority voting stake in Auckland Airport, yet has absolutely no problems with a Chinese business owning 100% of Wellington’s power lines?

Didn’t Helen Clark say ownership of such assets would be a defining issue for the election?