There’s no more potent demonstration of the upending of the energy market than the imminent failure of what was hailed as a knockout bid for Origin Energy late last year – and one slightly shaved early this year.also provides spectacular evidence of the growing power of Australia’s industry superannuation funds on the local market, in addition to their ability to exercise that clout globally.
This wasn’t just due to growing scepticism from smaller institutional investors such as Perpetual and consistent railing against the deal from prominent stockbroker Angus Aitken.AustralianSuper upped its stake by 1 per cent in September, saying Origin’s current share price was “substantially below our estimate of its long-term value”., issuing a statement declaring it believes Origin has “a highly strategic portfolio of assets to participate in, and benefit from, the energy transition”.
Brookfield would clearly dispute this interpretation. It maintains Australia’s energy transition would be accelerated under its ownership, due to its intention to invest $20 billion to $30 billion in renewables generation and storage over the next decade. This argument clearly helped convince the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to give its approval to the proposed deal.
It can show it is also willing to bet big on Origin’s strong prospects under its current management and board, given what it sees coming in the energy market and Origin’s ability to leverage that.