Shareholders have overwhelmingly approved Shell’s $607 million takeover of ERM Power

With a $607 million takeover approved, a Brisbane CEO used his company’s final AGM on Friday to unleash a withering spray about the nation’s dysfunctional energy policy.

HUGE ACQUISITION

Shareholders overwhelmingly approved Shell’s ambitious $607 million buyout offer for Brisbane-based ERM Power on Friday, setting the scene for the oil and gas giant to become a major player in the east coast electricity market.

As ERM’s key stakeholders ready themselves to pocket huge piles of dough, chief executive Jon Stretch used the company’s final AGM to unleash a withering spray about the nation’s dysfunctional energy policy.

“The energy market has been plagued by policy inaction and missteps,’’ Stretch told a sparsely-attended meeting at the Marriott Hotel.

ERM Power CEO Jon Stretch.

“The National Energy Guarantee went from hero to zero and that void has been filled with a range of populist, short-term and non-integrated approaches, which can’t really be called national and enduring policy….

“Industry, regulators and state and federal politicians are arguing simplistic points via social media and the popular press on matters of national importance. We have seen a range of market changes come to life in a rushed, isolated and expensive way.’’

Ouch!

TIME OFF

Stretch, who joined the company in early 2015 and earned $1.95 million last year, is the only major executive who won’t continue under the Shell umbrella.

He wraps up work later this month, walking away with a final salary and incentives package of $813,750. Another $8 million will swell his bank account thanks to his stake in the company.

Armed with that nice little fill up, Stretch told City Beat yesterday that he’s planning to take a bit of time off for some overseas travel. Expect to see him play a few rounds of golf at Palm Springs and bolt on the skis in the likes of both Colorado and Japan.

He’s already swatted away a few job offers but has told prospective employers to call him back in March next year.

GOING ELECTRIC

ERM founder Trevor St Baker is also about to get a very hefty cheque in the mail to swell his existing fortune, estimated at nearly $650 million.

Clearly already a Rich Lister, he is poised to take home a $166 million windfall for the nearly 28 per cent stake he has in the company, which he launched in 1980 as a boutique energy consultancy.

Almost 40 years later it has grown to become the nation’s second largest electricity provider to commercial businesses and industries. It reported a $123 million net profit in the last financial year.

St Baker, who turned 80 in July, is now focused on using his “energy innovation fund’’ to invest in companies developing products essential for the looming revolution in electric cars.

He’s already tipped about $100 million in to quick-charging tech firm Tritium and another $75 million in to Evie Networks, which aims to build 42 ultra-fast charging stations from Cairns to Adelaide.

ERM founder Trevor St. Baker

In a nice bit of symmetry this Tuesday, St Baker will join Transport Minister Mark Bailey and Evie boss Chris Mills on the Sunshine Coast for the launch of Evie’s first highway charging outpost at Coochin Creek. They describe it as the first of its kind in the nation.

Coincidentally, that’s the same day the NSW Supreme Court is expected to approve the Shell acquisition of ERM, which will then be delisted from the ASX.

St Baker, who already owns an all-electric Nissan Leaf and just bought himself a new Tesla, will reveal more details about future plans for his fund at an invite-only Brisbane Club dinner on November 19.

But yesterday he seemed content at the ERM meeting to just sit back and bask in a sense of satisfaction at the sale of the company he started nearly 40 years ago.

St Baker told us that, at $2.42 per share, Shell will pay what ERM is worth and they should now take it to that proverbial “next level’’.

Shell has targeted Australia as one of six markets around the world where it wants to establish a major presence in electricity retailing.

Tritium chairman Trevor St Baker says Australian cities would be healthier with electric cars