The share offer closes tomorrow, with brokers reporting yesterday a last-minute flurry of interest from clients, despite earlier withdrawals and scaling back of share applications from retail investors.
Milford Asset Management senior analyst William Curtayne said yesterday the Labour-Greens announcement around the nationalisation of the electricity industry had caused some retail investors to cancel their share orders.
But there was still ''reasonable demand'' from New Zealanders and institutions interested in the yields Mighty River Power would pay.
Mr Curtayne believed the shares would come on to the market at the lower end of the Government's $2.35 to $2.80 range.
The price of the shares would be set on May 8 and the shares were expected to list on May 10.
Earlier predictions of them being priced at the top of the range likely disappeared when Labour and the Greens proposed establishing a single buyer of electricity if they were elected as the government next year.
Meridian was expected to be the next state-owned generator to be sold but it was already embroiled in protracted negotiations with Pacific Aluminium, operator of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter which takes all the power from Manapouri.
''National won't want Labour and the Greens to win so they will want to press ahead with the partial sale of Meridian. But if Mighty River is so bad, it might be back to the drawing board. I think the Government will plan to get another one across the line,'' Mr Curtayne said.
The Labour-Greens policy was a larger issue for Meridian than Mighty River Power.
Asked where he thought the shares would start trading, Mr Curtayne said it was ''the big unknown'' but he thought backers would want to ensure a successful float so investors did not lose money.
Meridian released its March quarter operational result yesterday, which showed a 33% increase in generation volume compared with the corresponding quarter last year.
Chief executive Mark Binns said Meridian had demonstrated strong operational performance during the quarter, managing high early January inflows and the sustained dry period that followed.
''Our churn rate remains steady and reflects our commitment and focus on customer experience in a highly competitive market.''
Demand remained suppressed during the quarter - below the levels of the March quarters from the last three years, he said. That was compounded by a reduction in load during March by New Zealand Aluminium Smelter, Meridian's largest customer, which reduced its load to help manage low national lake levels. The four-year $40 million Waitaki hydro station refurbishment announced in February was the last of Meridian's major hydro refurbishment programme that had included Manapouri and Benmore stations.
The Waitaki refurbishment would give Meridian more generation flexibility while still operating within its water consents, Mr Binns said.
During the quarter, Meridian announced it would suspend land access work on the North Bank tunnel project, reflecting the company's ongoing rationalisation of future generation projects.
