By HARGREAVES, David TRANS-TASMAN media company APN News & Media hopes this year's election will help lift its New Zealand operations out of two years of sluggish trading.

By HARGREAVES, David Trans-Tasman media firm APN News & Media is hoping the 2008 election will help lift its New Zealand businesses out of two years of sluggish trading.

Equity Partners Asset Management, a New Zealand fund manager with a minority stake in Thames Water, said Wednesday that it might sell shares in a media fund that bought Independent News & Media bonds.

When John Howard's Government in Australia introduced legislation to change the laws governing news media ownership last year it sparked a frenzy of corporate activity. The price of shares in some media companies shot up.

APN News & Media, publisher of Auckland's New Zealand Herald, says that final due diligence is being done by Independent News & Media (INM). APN's independent director's sub-committee, which is being advised by Grant Samuel, is yet to reach a conclusion on the A605c (NZ684c) a share offer.