PEP acquires Infratil stake in Energy Developments for A$140m

Pacific Equity Partners-owned Greenspark Power Holdings has nearly acquired half of the listed Australian energy company Energy Developments, following the acquisition of a 32.47 percent stake from energy infrastructure company Infratil.

Greenspark paid A$139.9 million ($129.2 million; €89.2 million) for the stake, Infratil said in a statement. Other institutional shareholders have also sold their holdings, giving Greenspark a 48.64 percent stake in the Queensland-based company, which has been the object of private equity advances since June last year.

The private equity firm has said its take-over offer is unconditional. PEP is offering A$2.75 per share and has now extended its offer till 22 January, unless it acquires a stake of 50.1 percent or more in Energy Developments by 15 January, in which case, its offer will be extended further.

PEP's offer of A$431 million to acquire all of Energy Developments’ shares, made in November last year, represents PEP's second bid for Energy Developments and is an A$16 million increase on the first offer it made for the company in mid-October. Pacific Equity Partners also said in November it intends to fund the offer with 100 percent equity, leaving Energy Developments’ corporate debt facilities in place should the bid be successful.

At the time of PEP's revised offer, Energy Developments said it represented “inadequate consideration for the acquisition of a controlling stake in the company”.

The Sydney-headquartered firm is not the only private equity firm to have made a play for the company. In September 2009, Energy Developments said it had received a buyout offer that could be worth upwards of A$430 million without naming the private equity firm. A month prior to that, the company ceased discussions on another buyout proposal from Archer Capital, which offered A$2.80 per share in a revised offer issued in July.