The TSB sale

A reader writes in:

Toi Foundation’s proposal to sell TSB Bank to Heartland Group for $620 million has generated fierce community opposition in Taranaki — public meetings, widespread ‘don’t sell the family silver’ sentiment, and an informal survey finding 90% of those with a firm view opposed.

In looking closely into the background, however, I’ve found aspects that go well beyond the sale itself. Some numbers that I think will interest you:

• 25% of all Toi Foundation grants in FY2025 ($6.6 million of $26.4 million) went to organisations governed by sitting trustees — including the single largest grant of $1.5 million to Te Kotahitanga o Te Atiawa Trust, whose chair and former CEO are both Foundation trustees.
• Māori kaupapa grants grew from 14.3% of total grants in FY2020 to 41.0% in FY2025, following a wave of ministerial appointments between 2018 and 2021 — eight of the ten current trustees were appointed by Grant Robertson.
• The sale price ($620 million) represents a 24% discount to TSB’s book value of approximately $815 million. $264 million of the purchase price is being provided by Toi Foundation as a vendor loan to the buyer.
• The 90% opposition figure comes from a survey by local journalist Jim Tucker: 209 of 232 people who expressed a firm view opposed the merger.

The paper includes an interactive dataset covering all 1,178 grants made by Toi Foundation in FY2025, searchable by category, alongside a full trustee conflict of interest analysis.

I am not a professional researcher or academic, but a well-informed and concerned member of the public who has spent considerable time examining the primary sources — annual reports, NZX announcements, grant listings, and public records — and checking figures carefully. I have verified every substantive claim against source documents as thoroughly as I am able.

I have posted the research online at https://toifoundationtsbsale.vercel.app/. My interest is in getting accurate information into the public domain.

There may be angles I have missed or inaccuracies I have not caught — I welcome further scrutiny. What I am confident of is that the material lifts the lid on a governance situation that is genuinely concerning, and probably not unique to Taranaki. The consultation window is short. I am writing to you as someone whose judgment I trust. Over to you to assess whether my conclusions warrant wider attention — and to do so before that window closes.