Australia's Genex Power gets $220 mln take-private offer led by tech billionaire

Genex Power

25/07/2022 02:09

By Sonali Paul
    MELBOURNE, July 25 (Reuters) - Australian renewable energy
developer Genex Power  GNX.AX  has received an unsolicited A$319
million ($220 million) takeover offer from a team of private
equity firms led by Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar.
    The offer of 23 Australian cents a share was pitched at a
70% premium to Genex's close last Friday. Its shares shot up 52%
to a high of 20.5 cents on Monday after the announcement,
indicating investors don't expect a higher offer.
    "The Genex Board has not yet formed a view on the merits of
the Indicative Proposal or any potential further engagement with
the Consortium," Genex said on Monday.
    The proposed bid, subject to due diligence, came from
Farqhar's Skip Essential Infrastructure Fund, which Genex said
now owns a 19.99% stake in the company, and Stonepeak Partners
LLC.
    The company has appointed Goldman Sachs as an advisor on the
proposed deal.

($1 = 1.4486 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Sonali Paul; editing by Uttaresh.V)
 ((Sonali.Paul@thomsonreuters.com; +61 407 119 523;))