Australian tech billionaire launches shock takeover bid for energy giant AGL – and he plans to ‘shut down its coal-fired power plants’ within 16 years
- Atlassian co-founder has put in a joint offer to buy AGL energy business
- Mike Cannon-Brookes is a passionate advocate to renewable green energy
- A takeover would almost certainly result in fast-tracking a transition from coal
Software billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and Canadian fund manager Brookfield have partnered up in a takeover bid for Australian power company AGL to accelerate its transition from coal.
Cannon-Brookes, 42, is a passionate renewable energy advocate having poured billions into a string of green projects and pledging another $500million in October for start-ups tackling climate change.
A joint-offer was reportedly made on Saturday for AGL’s entire business including its more than 4.5 million retail customers and its coal, gas and renewable power generations assets.
A board meeting was then held on Sunday ahead of a public announcement on Monday morning.
Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes (pictured with his wife Annie) want to buy AGL
AGL stocks are currently at a two-decade low and the offer would pay a 4 per cent premium on the latest closing price of $7.16 per share, reports The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
The offer would be viewed as undervaluing the company by the board and likely wouldn’t be approved, a source told the publications.
AGL’s fossil-fuel power stations are Australia biggest greenhouse gas producers contributing eight per cent to the nation’s total emissions.
Amid the falling share prices and growing investor demand for clean energy, AGL had already announced a 2050 target to achieve ‘net-zero’ emissions.
The change in ownership to Brookfield and Cannon- Brookes would reportedly bring this forward to 2038 with some coal-fired plants closing earlier.
The business had already said their Baywater plant in NSW would close by 2033 and the Loy Yang plant in Victoria would be offline by 2045.
But this would still not meet targets set by the UN.
In a message on January 15 to the Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the UN Chief called for the phasing out of coal in OECD nations by 2030 as the ‘main climate priority’.
Cannon-Brookes has already invested in the $30billion Sun Cable project (pictured) that involves 125sqm of solar panels built in the Northern Territory
‘Turning this ship around will take immense willpower and ingenuity from governments and businesses alike, in every major-emitting nation’, United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres said.
Cannon-Brookes, Australia third richest person who made his fortune by founding software company Atlassian, has previously said it was his ‘night and weekend job’ to help usher in a renewable energy revolution.
‘I’m very passionate about Australia’s opportunity, Australia’s potential in a decarbonised world. We should be the winner of the decarbonised world, and we’re not going to be at the moment,’ he told the AFR.
A takeover from Brookfield and Cannon-Brookes would likely see AGL’s transition from coal power plants (pictured) fast tracked
He and mining magnate Andrew Forrest are already investing in the massive Sun Cable solar farm project which would see solar energy export from the Outback to Singapore.
Brookfield, based in Toronto, is worth more then $690billion with assets in property, infrastructure and electricity, including a recent purchase of Victoria’s AusNet grid.
Green energy is becoming increasingly cheaper to produce with fossil fuel struggling to keep up on the wholesale power market, contributing to AGL’s plunging share price.
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