Infigen advises shareholders not to respond to UPC, AC takeover bid

Australia’s Infigen Energy (ASX:IFN) has advised its shareholders to take no action regarding the AUD-777-million (USD 543.1m/EUR 477.9m) takeover bid launched by UPC Renewables Australia and AC Energy Group.

UAC Energy Holdings Pty Ltd, which is majority-owned by Philippine conglomerate Ayala Corporation’s AC Energy, earlier this week bought a 12.8% aggregate interest in Infigen’s stapled securities and made a takeover proposal for the renewables company. The all-cash offer of AUD 0.80 per share represents a 35.6% premium on the closing price of the target’s stapled securities on June 2.

Infigen said in a bourse filing on Thursday that the proposal is “highly conditional” and its timing is “opportunistic," taking advantage of recent drops in the price of the company’s stapled securities and the falling energy prices in Australia due to the COVID-19 crisis. Additionally, it questioned whether the takeover offer was fully funded.

Shareholders are advised not to take any action in respect of the takeover offer until the Infigen board has had an opportunity to assess the proposal.

“Infigen is well placed to manage the risks and capture the opportunities that the transitioning Australian energy market presents and has been therefore described by industry analysts as the utility of the future,” Infigen said.

The group operates as an integrated energy company that develops and owns renewable energy assets and also sells electricity directly to end-users. Among its assets are the 113.2-MW Bodangora and 278.5-MW Lake Bonney wind farms in New South Wales and South Australia and the recently commissioned Lake Bonney storage facility equipped with Tesla Powerpack batteries.

(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.699/EUR 0.615)

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