Given the shambles in recent times with government agencies’ handling of personal data – think EQC, ACC, MSD, and so on – it’s understandable that the people running the crown’s public offering of shares in Mighty River Power would be super-keen to avoid handing out details they don’t need to.

But they’ve overcompensated, and appear to have sent everyone who pre-registered for the first of the controversial partial asset sales an email with no personal information whatsoever – including the personal information essential for buying the things.

The email looks like this:

With the share float costing an estimated $48.7m, it’s reasonable to expect better.

“Dear %name%”? “Your Unique Reference Number is MRP <00000000>”?

Would you buy shares from an outfit that doesn’t know how to run a mail merge?

Update, 11.30am, 16 April: Another email arrives, complete with name and number. And this:

A short time ago, you likely received an email from us announcing that the Mighty River Power Share Offer is now open. Unfortunately your email may not have been formatted correctly and omitted your personal details, including your name and your Unique Reference Number. This issue was limited to a very small number of pre-registrants. We apologise for this mistake. Here is a corrected version of that email.

A very small number of pre-registrants? Really? Hmm. Judging by conversations last night, it seemed widespread.

First posted 15 April, 10.30pm