Origin Energy Ltd, Australia’s no.2 power producer and energy retailer, announced Thursday it would back an A$18.4 billion ($11.8 billion) buyout offer from a consortium led by Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management.
The deal, if successful, would be the largest ever private equity-backed buyout in Australia, surpassing Blackstone’s $6.3 billion acquisition of casino operator Crown Resorts Ltd earlier this year, according to Dealogic data.
Below are a list of Australia’s top private equity buyouts per Dealogic:
– The $6.22 billion buyout of GE Capital’s Australian and New Zealand consumer lending arm by a consortium of private equity firm KKR & Co (KKR.N), alternative investment manager Varde Partners and Deutsche Bank in 2015
– The $3.77 billion purchase of Spark Infrastructure Group by KKR and two Canadian pension funds in 2021.
– A $2.4 billion transaction by funds run by Goldman Sachs Group Inc, together with Apollo Global Management, Oaktree Capital and creditors to take control of Nine Entertainment from CVC Capital Partners in 2012
– Bain Capital’s $2.4 billion acquisition of troubled airline Virgin Australia in 2020
Other sizable private equity-backed deals in Australia in recent years include KKR’s $2 billion purchase of Arnotts Biscuits in 2019 and a $1.8 billion acquisition of Airtrunk Operating Pty Ltd by Macquarie Infrastructure & Real Assets in 2020, the data showed.
All deal values mentioned in the story are excluding debt.
Source: Reuters.com