Macquarie Group joins Neptune Energy in chase for Eni

Macquarie is also believed to be planning to compete for Exxon’s Bass Strait assets, worth more than $3bn.

Australian financial powerhouse Macquarie Group is understood to have joined forces with Neptune Energy to compete for the portfolio of assets on offer from Italy’s Eni which could be worth up to $1bn.

Neptune Energy was revealed as a suitor by DataRoom on August 6.

First round bids are due on August 18 but some say the date could be pushed back.

Beach Energy could be well placed strategically to acquire the assets, and Santos may also be in the mix.

Most back Beach over Santos as the transaction would make the company a larger and more diversified player.

Other groups expected to at least take a look at the assets are Cooper Energy and infrastructure investors such as APA, ICG, QIC and IFM.

An infrastructure investor will need to partner with an operator.

Neptune has a focus on the North Sea, north Africa and Asia-Pacific. It was founded in 2015 by executive chairman Sam Laidlaw and private equity investors.

In Australia, it operates the Petrel Field in the Bonaparte basin in the Timor Sea and has an office in Perth.

It has partnered with Eni on projects before.

Macquarie made a windfall in November 2018 when it offloaded its Quadrant Energy business to Santos for $2.15bn.

This was after buying Quadrant in 2016 from Apache Corporation for $US2.1bn ($3bn), including debt, before selling off parts of the business to other investors, including Wesfarmers.

Macquarie had owned 36.3 per cent of the WA oil and gas company, while Brookfield Asset Management had 48 per cent, Wesfarmers 13.7 per cent and management the remainder.

Macquarie is also believed to be planning to compete for Exxon’s Bass Strait assets, worth more than $3bn, as first flagged by DataRoom on December 18.

The Macquarie unit is headed by husband and wife team Robert Dunlop (chairman of the bank’s global resources group) and Kate Vidgen (executive director specialising in energy).

According to a flyer obtained by DataRoom, on offer is a 10.99 per cent stake in Darwin LNG, which is “a world-class conventional gas project”.

Market experts estimate it is worth about $250m.

Also on offer is the Bayu-Undan gas field project to which it is linked.

The Blacktip gas field project and the Yelcherr gas plant connected to the project are also for sale and expected to fetch up to $500m.

Eni is also selling a 72.2 per cent interest in the Evans Shoal and Barossa gas field project off the coast of Darwin.

The challenge for any party will be extracting earnings growth.

Investment bank Citi is working on the sale process, dubbed Project Ocean.