Atlassian boss Scott Farquhar ups takeover bid by 9% to win ASX-listed Genex Power

Atlassian billionaire Scott Farquhar and his venture capitalist wife Kim Jackson look set to win control of ASX-listed Genex Power after upping its takeover bid for the renewable energy company.

The Genex (ASX: GNX) board rejected a $0.23 cents per share offer made in late July on August 1, but left the door open for a revised bid.

Farquhar in a consortium controlled by Skip Capital, the family VC run by Jackson, with support from US-based alternative asset manager Stonepeak Partners, increased the offer by 8.6% to $0.25 cents – an 85% premium on the company’s closing price on July 22, before its initial bid from Skip Essential Infrastructure Fund lobbed.

That increased the takeover price by $28 million to $348 million.

In a statement to the ASX today, Genex’s board said it would now provide the consortium with the chance conduct confirmatory due diligence towards a binding proposal they’d accept at $0.25 cents.

“If the Consortium provides a binding proposal in respect of the Proposed Scheme at no less than A$0.250 in cash per Genex Share to the Board, subject to the entry into a scheme implementation agreement acceptable to the Board and no superior proposal emerging, it is the Board’s current intention to unanimously recommend that Genex Shareholders vote in favour of the Proposed Scheme (in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to an independent expert concluding (and continuing to conclude) that the Proposed Scheme is in the best interests of Genex Shareholders,” the statement said.

The 11-year-old renewable energy producer’s assets include the five-year-old Kidston Solar Project, which generates up to 50MW of power. The company has also turned the Kidston Gold Mine into a 250MW pumped hydro facility. Government renewable energy body ARENA committed $47 million towards that project.

Genex also runs the 50MW Jemalong Solar Project at Forbes in western NSW, and has a deal with Tesla for its 50MW battery storage project near Rockhampton, Queensland. Last week the company announced it was also acquiring the 400MW/1,600MWh Bulli Creek solar and battery project in Queensland.

The Skip Capital bid for Genex is subject to several conditions, and also needs Foreign Investment Review Board approval.