The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the country’s competition watchdog, has approved the acquisition of Origin Energy by the consortium of Brookfield Asset Management (Brookfield) and MidOcean Energy.
The deal, which values Origin at A$18.7bn ($12.4bn), was announced in March this year. Once completed, Brookfield and its partners will own Origin’s energy markets businesses.
In a statement, Origin Energy said: “The ACCC’s decision marks an important milestone in the proposed acquisition of Origin and the parties will continue to progress with the next steps in the Scheme process.
“Origin notes that the transaction remains subject to the satisfaction of outstanding conditions including additional regulatory approvals by the Foreign Investment Review Board, National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator and certain other foreign investment approvals.”
MidOcean, an LNG company managed by EIG Partners, will own Origin’s gas business, including its upstream gas interests, along with a 27.5% stake in Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG).
It also agreed to sell a 2.49% stake in APLNG to ConocoPhillips, which owns a 47.5% interest in APLNG.
After the deal’s closure, Brookfield plans to increase Origin’s share of renewable energy and storage facilities. It will support the development of up to 14GW of new assets in the coming decade by unlocking at least $20bn in additional investment.
The plan will also support in the retirement of Eraring, one of Australia’s largest coal plants and cut down on the reliance on a carbon-intensive grid. This is expected to help lower emissions of the business by more than 70% by 2030.
In November 2022, the company received an A$18.4bn proposal from the consortium, which valued each Origin share at A$9.
