Bank of New York Mellon Corp has bought 8.1 per cent of Meridian Energy after the New Zealand government sold 49 per cent of the nation's largest energy electricity retailer and generator.
BNY Mellon is also the world's largest custodian bank with $US27.4 trillion ($A28.96 trillion) in assets under custody and has $US1.5 trillion of assets under management.
It bought the Meridian shares in the days following the stock listing on Tuesday, according to a substantial security holder notice posted on the NZX on Thursday.
Meridian Energy's instalment receipts debuted at $NZ1.08 on Tuesday after tepid demand in the initial public offering saw the stock sold at $NZ1.50 a share, the bottom of the indicative $NZ1.50 to $NZ1.80 range, with a smaller-than-expected pool of investors.
The stock slipped 0.9 per cent to $NZ1.09 on Thursday.
The government offered the Meridian shares in instalment receipts to sweeten the offer, with $NZ1 up front and the promise of full entitlement to dividends, and the remaining 50 NZ cents in May 2015.
