Spark Infrastructure, an Australian energy firm, has agreed to a A$5.2bn (€3.1bn) buyout proposal from KKR, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Public Sector Pension Investment Board.
The consortium offered a revised offer of A$2.95 per stapled security, before payment of an interim distribution of 6.25c per stapled security. The offer places an enterprise value of A$10.1bn on the listed electricity company.
The offer price represented a 26% premium to the closing price of A$2.30 per stapled security on 13 July, the day before the consortium submitted its offer. The consortium in July submitted its first offer of A$2.70 per security.
Spark Infrastructure Chair, Doug McTaggart, said the board’s recommendations were subject to the absence of a superior proposal, and an independent expert concluding and continuing to conclude that the schemes were in the best interests of Spark Infrastructure securityholders.
On completion of the transaction, the asset will be held in an unlisted entity known as PIKA Holdco. KKR and the two Canadian investors will have joint ownership of PIKA and will sit on its three-person board.
Spark Infrastructure owns electricity assets, including 49% of SA Power Networks, the sole operator of South Australia’s electricity distribution network.
It also has interests in CitiPower and Powercor, (Victoria Power Networks) which distribute electricity to more than a million customers in Victoria, and 15% of the NSW transmission monopoly Transgrid.
To read the digital edition of the latest IPE Real Assets magazine click here.
