Atlassian billionaire Scott Farquhar and his venture capitalist wife Kim Jackson appear to gain control of ASX-listed Genex Power after raising its takeover bid for the renewable energy company.
The board of Genex (ASX:GNX) rejected a bid of $0.23 cents per share made in late July on August 1, but left the door open to a revised offer.
Farquhar in a consortium controlled by Skip Capital, the VC family run by Jackson, with backing from US-based alternative asset manager Stonepeak Partners, increased the offer by 8.6% to $0.25 cents – an 85 cents premium. % on the company’s closing price on July 22 , before the initial bid from Skip Essential Infrastructure Fund was lobbied.
That raised the acquisition price by $28 million to $348 million.
In a statement to the ASX today, Genex’s board said it would now give the consortium an opportunity to conduct a confirmatory due diligence investigation into a binding proposal they would accept for $0.25 cents.
“If the Consortium makes a binding proposal with respect to the Proposed Scheme of not less than A$0.250 in cash per Genex Share to the Board, subject to entering into an agreement for the execution of the Scheme acceptable to to the Board and no superior proposal is made, it is the Board’s current intention to recommend unanimously to Genex Shareholders to vote in favor of the Proposed Scheme (in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to an independent expert who concludes (and remains conclude) that the Proposed Scheme is in the best interests of Genex Shareholders,” the statement said.
The assets of the 11-year-old renewable energy producer include the five-year-old Kidston Solar Project, which generates up to 50 MW of power. The company has also converted the Kidston Gold Mine into a 250 MW pumped-storage plant. Government Renewable Energy Agency ARENA has pledged $47 million for that project.
Genex also runs the 50MW Jemalong Solar Project at Forbes in western NSW, and has a deal with Tesla for its 50MW battery storage project near Rockhampton, Queensland. Last week, the company announced that it was also acquiring the 400 MW/1,600 MWh Bulli Creek solar and battery project in Queensland.
The Skip Capital offer for Genex is subject to various conditions and must also be approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board.