Brookfield & EIG consortium → Origin Energy
withdrawnBrookfield and EIG offered roughly $20bn (A$9.39/share) for Origin Energy, split so Brookfield Renewable would take Origin's power generation and retail business and EIG would take its integrated gas division. Origin's board recommended the offer, but shareholders voted it down in November 2023 and the deal was withdrawn.
Brookfield wanted Origin's 24% retail market share and existing generation fleet as a platform to fund and offtake a planned $20-30bn buildout of about 14GW of new wind, solar, and storage capacity in Australia — buying an incumbent retailer was a faster route to scale than building a renewables business from scratch.
The board recommended the offer, but only 69% of shareholders voted in favour versus the 75% required. AustralianSuper, Origin's largest shareholder at 17.5%, led the opposition, arguing Origin's future upside from the energy transition was worth more to existing shareholders than the takeover price on offer.
Origin Energy shares fell 3.9% to A$7.86 on the day trading was halted ahead of the rejected shareholder vote in November 2023.
Proxy advisers were split — CGI Glass Lewis backed the offer, but AustralianSuper and other holders argued the price failed to capture Origin's energy-transition upside, which proved decisive in the vote.
Deal mechanics
Citi and MUFG advised Brookfield; UBS and J.P. Morgan advised EIG's MidOcean Energy vehicle
Herbert Smith Freehills (legal) and Barrenjoey Capital (financial) advised Origin Energy
Scheme of arrangement, all-cash at A$9.39/share, split so Brookfield Renewable took the energy markets (generation and retail) business and EIG's MidOcean Energy took the integrated gas division
Not publicly disclosed
Required FIRB approval and ACCC merger authorisation; the consortium formally lodged its ACCC application
Brookfield backed by institutional co-investors GIC and Temasek; EIG's stake held through its MidOcean Energy vehicle