General GNX News, page-224

NZ listed Infratil and Mercury energy made a t/o offer for Renewable Energy Provider Tilt resources yesterday. Here a little snippet from the NBR about the political uncertainty around renewable energy in Australia:

Tilt, spun out of Trustpower in October 2016, owns eight wind farms – five in Australia and three in New Zealand.
However, it also has several wind and solar projects under development, the largest of which at Dundonnell in Victoria has reached the stage of raising capital to fund its construction.
The financing will include $30om of new equity and although Tilt had underwriting arranged the joint venture partners have committed to contribute their pro rata shares.
Political uncertainty
Mr Bogoievski said Infratil its aim was to invest more in the Australian renewable sector.
“For Infratil it’s part of an overall set of thoughts around how our portfolio should be constructed so on balance we want more equity exposed to this renewables sector and this decarbonisation investment theme.
“The timing is challenging though. If you’re following Aussie politics it’s quite an uncertain time again around policy support but we’ve got a view that markets like Australia will ultimately put a price on carbon one way or another. And if you’ve reasonably attractive assets in the pipeline they will be valuable in the future.”
However, the political uncertainty made valuation tricky, he said.
“It’s really hard for a listed market to come up with that value and you can see it in some of the listed comps [comparable companies] that are out there. And it’s for good reason. There’s a lot of uncertainty about whether those options are worth anything, let alone how to value them.”
Mr Whineray said wind and solar energy were part of Mercury’s growth strategy.
“Wind and solar technologies we think are very strong players cost-wise for the renewable expansion. Another key part of that was Australia and what’s the best way to be a part of that Australian expansion. Tilt’s got a great management team, a very good board, a track record of operating and developing and in my view the best [development] pipeline in Australia.”