Expertise

Defence strategy and tactical public markets advisory, cross-border M&A,  stakeholder management including navigating complex regulatory approval processes.

Strategic Context

Origin Energy (ASX: ORG) is Australia’s leading integrated energy company, operating across two primary segments:

• Energy Markets (EM): Electricity and gas retail, generation (including NSW’s largest power station Eraring), and a 20% stake in UK’s leading retailer Octopus Energy ([FOOTNOTE]: at the time of the original November 2022 NBIO).
• Integrated Gas (IG): A 27.5% interest in APLNG and other upstream gas assets.

In November 2022, Origin Energy announced it has received a non-binding indicative offer for $9.00/sh from a Consortium led by Brookfield and EIG’s managed LNG investment vehicle “MidOcean”, following which the Consortium was granted due diligence access and exclusivity. In March 2023, the Consortium entered into a binding scheme implementation deed in relation This deal marked one of the largest public-to-private transactions in Australian history.

Brookfield and EIG were drawn to the strategic value of Origin’s diverse energy assets. Brookfield had previously bid for AGL, a competitor to Origin’s EM business, in 2022, while EIG had attempted to acquire a 10% stake in APLNG in 2021, which was pre-empted by ConocoPhillips. The acquisition was underscored by growing interest in the energy and decarbonisation thematic, with Origin providing the consortium with an attractive platform to deploy capital to drive Australia’s transition to a cleaner energy future.