A consortium led by Macquarie Group is buying a 50.4 percent controlling stake in the electricity provider Endeavour Energy for A$7.6 billion ($5.6 billion). The seller was the New South Wales government in Australia.
The consortium, Advance Energy, includes Macquarie, AMP Capital, REST Industry Super, Canada’s British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and the Qatar Investment Authority.
Endeavour Energy services the Illawarra and South Coast.
“This is another outstanding outcome for NSW,” said NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian in an article from a local outlet. “We now have $20 billion secured to go towards the new schools, hospitals, roads, rail and cultural institutions across NSW.”
The sale will mean that the government’s promise at the 2015 election to lease half the electricity assets for $15 billion has been far exceeded.
The sale follows the NSW government’s sale of a long-term lease in Ausgrid to two Australian super funds, AustralianSuper and IFM Investors, for $A16.2 billion ($12billion) in October 2016 and the sale of the long-term lease in TransGrid to a consortium led by Hastings fund management for A$10 billion ($7.4 billion) in 2015. The consortium was made up of a Canadian pension fund, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait investment authorities and Spark Infrastructure, an ASX listed company.