Australia's Genex Power rejects $220 million takeover bid, seeks higher offer

Genex Power

31/07/2022 23:46

Aug 1 (Reuters) - Australia's Genex Power  GNX.AX  on Monday
rejected an unsolicited A$319 million ($222.76 million) takeover
bid from two private equity firms, led by Atlassian co-founder
Scott Farquhar, but said it was open to negotiations for a
higher offer.
    The renewable energy developer said that the indicative
offer was not in the best interests of the holders of Genex
shares, but added that it was "willing to engage constructively"
with the consortium to explore whether the latter was capable of
submitting a revised proposal.
    Last week, Farquhar's Skip Essential Infrastructure Fund,
which Genex said now owns a 19.99% stake in the company, and
Stonepeak Partners LLC, offered to buy the company at 23
Australian cents per share at a time when the country's Labor
government aimed to speed up the transition to cleaner energy.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2Z6025
    The board was not prepared to grant access to due diligence
requested by the consortium on basis of the current offer, but
stated that it would be ready to open up its books should they
make a revised proposal. 
        

($1 = 1.4320 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Tejaswi Marthi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra
Maler)
 ((Tejaswi.Marthi@thomsonreuters.com;))