The Dearth of Companies Listed on NZX to Invest In – Thanks Mark Weldon.

Nice piece by Chalkie in the business section of today’s Press:

Chalkie blames former NZX boss Mark Weldon for the shortage of [company] listings. He was a great chief executive from a shareholder point of view but during his tenure the cachet of listings declined due to increasing compliance and rising costs.

A government cannot regulate out risk, without regulating out investment. It’s always an own goal.

And I’ll never personally forgive Weldon for his campaign that resulted in the myopic destruction by the Fortress of Legislation of New Zealand’s  useful LAQC and QC taxation regimes, all in his cynical attempt to destroy the property market so that money in that sector might find its way to his exchange (on the back of his failings). If he had concentrated on less government, rather than more heavy handed government, investors might have companies on the NZX worth investing in. If there is such a thing as treason to freedom and prosperity, then his tenure was it.