Octopus’ valuation at the centre of £8bn tussle for Australian energy giant
The value of Octopus Energy has emerged as a bone of contention in an attempted multibillion pound takeover of an Australian biggest energy retailer.
Origin Energy is the prime acquisition target of a consortium led by asset management giant Brookfield, which has made an £8.1bn bid for the company.
Origin holds a 20 per cent stake in Octopus, the UK’s second largest household energy retailer with 6.5m domestic customers following its acquisition of Shell’s household customer base in September.
However, Australiansuper — which is Australia’s largest pension fund — holds a 13.7 per cent stake in Origin and has signalled its intentions to vote against any proposed takeover deal, according to news agency Reuters.
It reportedly considers the offer to be “substantially below” Origin’s true valuation, particularly regarding its stakes in Octopus and Aussie gas giant Pacific LNG.
The negative verdict on the deal is not a surprise, with Australiansuper first raising concerns over the deal last month.
This could potentially scupper the deal ahead of a crunch vote on 23 November — with the deal requiring 75 per cent approval from shareholders.
The news is a blow to Brookfield, which first confirmed it had reached an agreement to buy Origin in March this year.
Octopus’ principal backers remain the wider Octopus Group — specialising in investments — which remains the largest shareholder with a 41 per cent stake.
The energy company, which was launched in 2016, has acquired multiple new investors, including Origin in 2020, which snapped up a 20 per cent stake for roughly £300m.
Other backers in the privately held company include Tokyo Gas, CIPPB and the Al-Gore founded Generation Investment Management which backed Octopus with $600m of investment two years ago.
Octopus declined to comment.
City PM has approached Australiansuper, Origin and Brookfield for comment.