Bowen “upbeat and excited” about Sun Cable, despite billionaire bust-up

Federal energy minister Chris Bowen says he is “upbeat” about the prospects for Australian solar and storage giant Sun Cable, despite the billionaire-backed company’s shock move into voluntary administration.

In what looks to be the result of irreconcilable differences between the company’s two biggest backers – billionaires Mike-Cannon Brookes and Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest – Sun Cable this week called in FTI Consulting to map a path forward.

The move immediately cast a pall over the viability of the company’s flagship Australia-Asia PowerLink project, which proposes to build up to 20GW of solar and 42GWh of battery storage in the Northern Territory, to power green industry in Darwin and to export energy to Singapore through a 4,200km sub-sea cable.

But in a press conference on Thursday, Bowen moved to hose down any concerns that AAPLink would not go ahead, saying Sun Cable’s move into administration was primarily a commercial decision about structure, and about the way forward.

“I remain very upbeat and excited about Sun Cable’s future,” the energy minister said.

“Certainly I’ve been speaking to very senior people in Sun Cable over the last 24 hours, they tell me that there is absolutely no reduction in their ambition, there is no change in their plans for this to be going forward as a very important investment in Australia.

“It’s a change of approach and corporate structure, but of course in that regard that is entirely a matter for them,” Bowen added.

“I make no comment about different models, different approaches that various people might take. I do make a comment about the federal government’s support for Australia being a renewable energy export powerhouse, and Sun Cable continuing to be a very important part of those plans.”

This gels with the overall tone of the company statement released on Wednesday, which said the appointment of voluntary administrators of had followed “the absence of alignment” of the objectives of all shareholders.

“Whilst funding proposals were provided, consensus on the future direction and funding structure of the company could not be achieved,” the company said.

It’s now over to FTI’s Christopher Hill, David McGrath and John Park to find a way forward from here, with early indications suggesting this might include a call for expressions of interest for either a recapitalisation or sale of the business.

However the “restructure” proceeds, the strong message from the company – and backed, now, by Bowen – is that AAPLink will go ahead as planned, probably led by just one billionaire: Cannon-Brookes.

In his own statement, the Atlassian CEO who is also the chair of Sun Cable said he was confident the company would go on to play “a huge role in delivering green energy for the world, right here from Australia.

“I fully back this ambition and the team, and look forward to supporting the company’s next chapter,” Cannon-Brookes said.