A consortium of Brookfield Asset Management (Canada) and MidOcean Energy backed by the private equity firm EIG has offered AUD9 (US$5.9) per share of Australia's Origin Energy in a AUD18.4bn (US$12bn) bid, with a target of completing the takeover by 15 May 2023. The offer, backed by Origin Energy, will be increased by 3% per share per month if the scheme of arrangement is not implemented by this date. The transaction requires the approval of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB).
If successful, the consortium would split Origin Energy's assets in two. Brookfield would take over electricity and gas retail activities (4.3 million customers and 6,000 MW of owned and contracted generation capacity) and would invest an additional AUD20bn (US$bn) in renewable and firming capacity by 2030. MidOcean Energy would take over the LNG business, including a 27.5% stake in the 9 Mt/year Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) liquefaction plant on Curtis Island (Australia).