Australia’s largest energy firm and biggest carbon emitter AGL Energy Ltd yesterday rejected a takeover bid from green-minded tech billionaire Mike Cannon Brookes, who planned to shutter the firm’s coal-fired power plants.
Atlassian cofounder Cannon Brookes had teamed up with Brookfield Asset Management Inc to offer US$5.8 billion for the electricity production and distribution firm with a view to shutting major coal power plants 15 years early.
Cannon Brookes has long been vocal in his criticism of the Australian government’s pro-coal policies and the energy industry’s lack of ambitious climate goals.
Photo: Reuters
The bid would have seen AGL move much more rapidly to decarbonization, including by shutting coal power plants by 2030 — rather than 2045 as currently planned.
However, AGL’s board decided that the unsolicited offer, which priced the firm at 4.7 percent more than Friday’s closing stock price of A$7.16, undervalued the company and was “not in the best interests” of shareholders.
Cannon Brookes said that the decision was “disappointing,” but he vowed to press ahead with efforts to acquire the firm.
“I’ve long said that decarbonization is the greatest economic opportunity facing Australia, but it requires vision and action,” he Australian Broadcasting Corp.
He said the takeover could benefit AGL’s 4.5 million customers and the environment.
“We strongly believe it will result in lower bills for consumers, we can fund this transition ourselves and we can build out the replacement capacity,” he said.
“We’ll create far more jobs ... and obviously the emissions are far lower,” he added. “AGL is the largest emitter in the country, it represents over 8 percent of Australia’s emissions.”
Despite widespread support for climate action, Australia’s conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison has dragged his feet on emissions targets and pledged taxpayer cash to fund new fossil-fuel projects — despite experts saying they are no longer economically viable.
Several coal mines and plants are also located in fiercely contested electoral seats, meaning both the government and the opposition Labor Party have tried to avoid irking coal-backing voters.
However, the market is increasingly leaving them and politicians in Canberra behind.
AGL rival Origin Energy Ltd has decided to shut Australia’s largest coal-fired power plant in 2025 — several years sooner than planned — saying that the facility is no longer viable given the low cost of renewables.
Origin Energy told investors that the “influx of renewables” was “undermining the economics” of the vast decades-old Eraring plant just north of Sydney.
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