Atlassian billionaire teams up with PE for Genex tilt

Scott Farquhar and his investment partners launch a $300m takeover bid for the Queensland renewables developer.

Atlassian billionaire Scott Farquhar has teamed up with private equity to launch a $300m takeover bid for Queensland renewable energy developer Genex Power.

Mr Farquhar’s investment fund Skip Capital, headed up by the tech executive’s wife Kim Jackson, has made a 23c a share offer in cash after building up a 19.9 per cent stake in Genex last week. A consortium of Skip and a large private equity player are behind the buyout, sources told The Australian.

The Genex board said on Monday morning that the proposal is unsolicited and it has “not yet formed a view on the merits of the bid” or any potential further engagement with the consortium.

“Genex shareholders do not need to take any action in relation to the indicative proposal or the potential transaction. Genex will continue to keep Genex shareholders informed about the Potential Transaction in accordance with its continuous disclosure obligations,” the group said in a statement.

Genex’s main draw is its Kidston renewable energy hub in far-north Queensland which includes a 50MW solar farm, 250MW hydro project, a further 270MW solar development and a 150MW wind farm.

The company has retained Goldman Sachs as its defence adviser with its board, chaired by Ralph Craven, expected to take time to weigh up the merits of the bid which is pitched at a 64 per cent premium to its closing share price on Friday.

Skip along with Mike Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Capital emerged as backers of Genex in March 2021 after first ploughing money into the company’s $115m capital raising.

The Kidston facility, west of Townsville, signed up power giant EnergyAustralia to a 10-year deal to buy power from the facility with two further decade long options available including control of the plant’s operational and dispatch rights. Genex has received a $610m loan from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility and counts Japan’s J-Power as an investor.

The ASX-listed Genex bought the old gold mine from mining major Barrick in 2014 for $1 after the facility had been shut down in 2001.

It aims to start up the hydro project in the second quarter of 2025, marking the nation’s first pumped storage hydro project in 40 years. It already operates a 50MW solar project at Kidston, is constructing a 50MW battery at Bouldercombe in Rockhampton and has a 50MW solar facility operating at Jemalong, near Forbes in central NSW.

Given the indicative proposal, Genex has appointed Goldman Sachs as its financial adviser and Gilbert + Tobin as its legal adviser.