The knockout $NZ2.96bn ($2.75bn) bid for Tilt Renewables by the AGL Energy-backed consortium has dashed hopes that a sweetened offer would emerge for Infratil from AustralianSuper.
Australia’s largest super fund made a $5.1bn play for Infratil late last year, and the offer was swiftly rebuffed by the company.
It was as a result of this offer that Infratil opted to place the 65.6 per cent holding it owned in Tilt on the market with help from defence adviser Goldman Sachs.
Tilt’s adviser Lazard then opted to test interest for the entire company as a result.
Some suspected that AustralianSuper may return to the negotiating table once Tilt was offloaded, given Tilt was not its major focus.
But the $NZ7.80-a-share price achieved was a 99 per cent premium to Tilt’s last closing share price of $NZ3.92 — which was far higher than most had expected.
It indicates that AustralianSuper would have to pay a knockout price for Infratil and now an offer for the owner of assets such as airports, electricity generators and retailers and telecommunications networks is not expected.
The winning consortium for Tilt Renewables consisted of The Future Fund, AGL Energy, Queensland Investment Corporation and Mercury Energy, and they tapped a syndicate of at least five banks to fund the offer, as revealed by DataRoom on Monday.
Lenders include National Australia Bank, CBA, MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui and the Sydney branch of Societe Generale.
The agreement was finalised late on Sunday night, as revealed by DataRoom, and other competitors were said to be close behind the winning suitors.
This column understands that at least two other parties put forward an offer that valued the listed group at more than $NZ7 a share, with an underbidder in the final stages of the contest said to be close in price to the winning offer of $NZ7.80 a share.
AGL bid through its Powering Australian Renewables Fund, of which Queensland Investment Corporation and The Future Fund are also investors.
The understanding is that parties offered top dollar due to the quality of the solar and wind farms and with AGL looking to replace coal power assets with more environmentally friendly alternatives.
Offering fire power to the proposal was understood to be Aware Super, which is an investor in QIC’s Global Investment Fund.
The consortium has fended off competition for the listed renewable energy owner from APA, CDPQ and Engie with ICG.
Mercury already owns 19.92 per cent of Tilt and will take the New Zealand assets at an enterprise value of $NZ770m with the other consortium members to own the remainder.
Final offers were due on Friday for Tilt, which is listed in Australia and New Zealand and owns solar and wind farms in both countries.
The Powering Australia fund was advised by Bank of America and Jarden.
Mercury Energy, which owns 19.9 per cent of Tilt, was advised by Citi, and Forsyth Barr.
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