Ashurst is pleased to have assisted Australia’s second largest energy business, AGL, in securing clearance from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) to fully acquire Great Energy Alliance Corporation Pty Ltd (GEAC) in a deal valued at $3.1 billion.
GEAC is the owner of Victoria’s largest power station, producing 30 per cent of the State’s electricity needs, and a nearby mine which is the largest brown coal mine in Australia.
Ashurst and lead partner on this matter Liza Carver said: “Today’s decision of the ACCC to allow AGL to fully acquire GEAC brings to a closure a landmark regulatory process that had its origins more than a decade ago.
“The Ashurst team, including senior associate Alice Muhlebach, is delighted to have been able to assist AGL achieve such a pleasing result.”
In 2003, AGL successfully took the ACCC to the Federal Court to permit it to acquire 35 per cent of GEAC. This was the first time in the 30 year history of the regulation of mergers and acquisitions (under the Trade Practices Act 1974) that a party commenced legal proceedings against the ACCC in order to secure the right to complete an acquisition.
Now, nearly 10 years later, with the benefit of the ACCC clearance Ashurst will assist AGL in securing the agreement of the Federal Court to remove the undertaking restricting the shareholding and allow it to complete the full acquisition of GEAC.
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