Gladys Berejiklian announces $7.6 billion leasing of half of Endeavour Energy

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has this morning announced that the NSW government will rake in more than $7.6 billion from the leasing of 50.4 per cent of Endeavour Energy.

THE NSW government will rake in more than $7.6 billion from the leasing of 50.4 per cent of Endeavour Energy.

The successful consortium, Advance Energy, includes Macquarie, AMP Capital, Canada’s British Columbia Investment Management Corporation and the Qatar Investment Authority.

The net proceeds from the lease have been placed at $2.9 billion.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Treasurer Dominic Perrottet announce the sale of Endeavour Energy. Picture: Stephen Cooper

About $34 billion in gross proceeds and $23 billion in net proceeds will flow from the state’s overall electricity asset program, including those pouring in from the Endeavour lease.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she was pleased with the outcome and thanked voters for giving the poles and wires plan the tick of approval that allowed it to go ahead.

“You gave us your trust,” she said.

Ms Berejiklian said it was a “great day for NSW”.

“I’m thrilled with today’s result,” she said.

The sale will mean that the government’s promise at the 2015 election to lease half the electricity assets for $15 billion has been far exceeded.

Additional money from the federal government’s asset ­recycling fund to reward the state for the assets sales will mean NSW will have reaped billions more than it originally hoped.

And the federal budget signalled that NSW will gain ­billions more from the ­Commonwealth buying its share of the Snowy Hydro project.

The Federal Budget signalled NSW will gain ­billions from the ­Commonwealth buying its share of the Snowy Hydro Scheme.

Ms Berejiklian said she was thrilled. Picture: Stephen Cooper

The sale involves the 99-year lease of 50.4 per cent of Endeavour Energy. A similar leasing of Ausgrid fetched $16 billion and the sale of Transgrid netted the state government $10 billion.

The proceeds from those sales have since been pledged to the metro projects — the WestConnex motorway and other school and hospital ­infrastructure projects — with one-third of the funds promised to the regions.

Endeavour is expected to fetch less because it involves fewer customers. Macquarie Group’s backers in the bid ­include AMP Capital, the Qatar Investment Authority, Canada’s British Columbia ­Investment Corporation and APG out of the Netherlands.

‘I DON’T WANT TO BE TOLD HOW TO SPEND THE MONEY’

PREMIER Gladys Berejiklian is “extremely interested” in the idea of selling the state’s Snowy Hydro Scheme shares to the Turnbull government, but doesn’t want to be told how to spend the cash.

Ms Berejiklian emphatically rejected the federal government’s suggestion that the sale of NSW and Victoria’s shares would be linked to the proceeds being spent on state infrastructure assets.

“We have a policy in NSW that the state government should determine where the proceeds of any of our asset recycling initiatives should be spent,” she said.

“And that would be my position whether the person was Macquarie and AMP or whether it was the federal government. I think NSW should have the right to say where we spend that money and clearly that will be part of the discussions we have.”

Her comments echo those made earlier by Victoria’s Treasurer.

But the Premier said she was keen to talk to the Turnbull government about the potential sale.

“I’m extremely interested in the prospect of discussing with the federal government that asset recycling initiative,” she said.

“What’s really exciting for us is we’ve been through a number of transactions, but in this one we know who the buyer is, we know it’s a government entity and we know the asset will stay in public hands.

“We’re very interested to pursue that and I think it could be a great outcome for NSW. But in those discussions, I will have obviously NSW’s best interests in mind.”