AustralianSuper and IFM Investors have submitted an unsolicited bid to Australiaβs New South Wales (NSW) government to acquire a majority holding in the NSW power network Ausgrid.
The network is reportedly valued at around AUD10bn (β¬6.8bn).
The consortium is seeking to take a 50.4% interest in a 99-year lease of Ausgrid, in the wake of an Australian federal government rebuff of two bids from China and Hong Kong.
Ausgrid is the largest supplier of electricity in NSW, a fact that sparked public protest when it became known that Chinaβs State Grid and Hong Kongβs-listed Cheung Kong Infrastructure were in the running for the asset.
The outcry led federal treasurer Scott Morrison to block the sale earlier this month.
Morrison said at the time: βAusgridβs footprint includes critical power and communications services to business and government. The national-security concerns are not country-specific and relate to the transaction structure and the nature of the assets.β
Morrisonβs decision forced the NSW government to revisit the sale process.
The AustralianSuper/IMF consortium lodged its bid today.
The partners said in a statement that the NSW government was reviewing the proposal and would make a decision later in the year.
Details of the proposal are confidential.
For its part, the NSW government said the all-Australian proposal was βunique and represents excellent valueβ.
In a joint statement, AustralianSuper chief executive Ian Silk and IFM Investors chief executive Brett Himbury said: β[We] are pleased to jointly submit this unique proposal and, if we are ultimately successful, intend to manage the asset in a responsible, considered manner over the long term.β
They described Ausgrid as a high-quality core infrastructure asset in operation for more than 100 years.
It distributes electricity to the Sydney, Central Coast and Hunter regions of NSW across a 22,275 sq km area.
