(Reuters) – New Zealand-based Tilt Renewables Ltd said on Monday it would acquire a consortium involving its second-largest shareholder, AGL Energy Ltd, and Australian sovereign wealth fund, for NZ $ 2.94 billion ($ 2.10 billion).
In the first major deal of the year in New Zealand, which comes amid a bid for disarmament and clean energy, Tilt shareholders will see NZ $ 7.80 for all shares, priced 20.4% to allotment price the company at the end of Friday.
Powering Australian Renewables (PowAR), a partnership between AGL, QIC investment manager and Future Fund, will acquire Australia’s Tilt business, with 19.9% - the owner of Mercury NZ Ltd buying its business there New Zealand.
The agreement will give the consortium access to 20 operational and underdeveloped wind farms based in New Zealand in Australia and New Zealand.
“The Board is pleased that, with these new owners, the move to renewables in Australia and New Zealand will continue to accelerate,” said Tilt Chairman Bruce Harker.
Infiltil Ltd, Tilt’s largest shareholder, and Mercury NZ have agreed to vote for the deal, the company said, noting that a meeting to vote on the deal would likely be held in on four months.
In separate statements, Infratil said it expected to get around NZ $ 1.93 billion from the sale of its 65.5% stake in Tilt, while Mercury told NZ that the deal would go away immediately and contributed NZ $ 50 million to its 2022 earnings.
By completing the transaction, Mercury NZ will make a significant contribution to New Zealand’s decarbonisation goals, ”said the company’s chief executive, Vince Hawksworth.
Tilt, which made a list in New Zealand in 2016, made its books available to a number of parties last month, after they turned down an offer from Australia’s largest pension fund in December last year.
($ 1 = 1.3974 New Zealand dollars)
Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru; Edited by Edmund Blair and Peter Cooney