September 2024
Dozens of flights cancelled as 100,000 residents without power
At least 26 domestic flights departing from Sydney Airport have been cancelled as residents in three states battle major power outages.
- Updated
- Lucy Slade
April 2024
Matt Comyn’s right-hand man pops up at Adara
Ex-Commonwealth Bank executive David Cohen is set to join the prestigious advisory group, bringing its membership to 16.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
October 2023
- Updated
- Mergers & acquisitions
ACCC cites energy transition in approving Origin’s $18.7b takeover
A surge in Origin’s shares after its suitors won competition approval for their takeover offer has added further pressure for a bump-up in the offer price.
- Updated
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
July 2023
‘They will fight to the death’: Farmers revolt at Victorian power plan
Australia has not built transmission projects this large across farm country for decades. They are critical to the transition to net zero, but farmers say they’ve been ignored, taken for granted and patronised.
- Ben Potter
April 2023
- Exclusive
- Energy transition
GMR Energy charges ahead with battery pipeline
The battery will support the grid around an area of Victoria where demand fluctuates.
- Colin Packham
July 2022
AusNet’s Western Renewables Link not in the serenity business
The Castle actor Stephen Curry is leading another unimpressive cast of characters in a true-to-life NIMBY outbreak.
- Joe Aston
February 2022
- Analysis
- Renewables
Why Cannon-Brookes won’t back down on his renewable energy crusade
Mike Cannon-Brookes’ audacious plan to take over AGL Energy came as a big surprise, but with hindsight it was totally in character.
- Paul Smith
- Opinion
- Energy transition
Why Cannon-Brookes shouldn’t control Australia’s energy future
It’s unsettling to have a billionaire amateur deciding national energy policy - especially when it means overturning the core principles of the National Electricity Market.
- Danny Price
- Opinion
- Energy transition
Mike Cannon-Brookes has economics on his side in AGL bid
The government is apprehensive about more early closures of coal-fired power stations, but it will be the economics, not politics that determines the timing.
- Jennifer Hewett
Cannon-Brookes fronts $8b bid to buy and shut AGL coal
The Australian billionaire and Canada’s Brookfield promise to invest up to a further $10 billion to replace coal-fired power stations by 2030.
- Updated
- Anthony Macdonald, Sarah Thompson, Mark Ludlow and Angela Macdonald-Smith
January 2022
AusNet takeover leaves void in energy sector
The $18 billion deal, which received huge investor support, comes weeks after Spark also passed into private hands and will leave no ASX-listed power network owners.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
Proxy advisers back $10b AusNet takeover
The agreed bid from a Brookfield-led consortium came after a “competitive” bidding process against APA, noted Institutional Shareholder Services.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
December 2021
ESG poised to drive more energy upheaval
After an unprecedented year of M&A across the energy sector, the pressure to decarbonise is expected to drive more deals in 2022 – but the pickings will be thinner.
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
AusNet board slammed for shutting out APA Group
The powerful Takeovers Panel has blasted the electricity distribution company’s board for anticompetitive behaviour.
- Elouise Fowler
November 2021
Brookfield secures FIRB approval for AusNet takeover
Takeover hopeful AusNet Services posted a drop in profit in the six months to the end of September, driven by softer revenues and higher capital expenditure.
- Elouise Fowler
Brookfield makes light work of AusNet funding hurdle
It is expected to refinance AusNet Services’ hybrids and replace securityholders’ equity with its own, but otherwise leave the group’s capital structure largely in place.
- Anthony Macdonald, Yolanda Redrup and Kanika Sood
Brookfield’s AusNet bid at $2.65: sources
Brookfield’s new bid for AusNet Services is worth $2.65 a security.
- Anthony Macdonald, Yolanda Redrup and Kanika Sood
October 2021
Brookfield ups bid for AusNet Services, gets agreed deal
Canada’s Brookfield is set to sign a binding deal to acquire Australia’s AusNet Services after increasing its all-cash offer to more than $18 billion, including debt.
- Anthony Macdonald, Yolanda Redrup and Kanika Sood
ACCC to examine energy price impact of APA’s AusNet bid
Gas prices and the grid connections for new renewables projects are among the competition watchdog’s priority concerns.
- Updated
- Angela Macdonald-Smith
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
ACCC move on APA spices up AusNet takeover
A public review by the competition regulator of the implications of APA Group’s possible takeover of AusNet Services is not necessarily a deal-breaker.
- Updated
- Tony Boyd