AGL Energy has commenced decommissioning of the Liddell power station, closing its first unit. (Photo credit: AGL Energy)
Tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes has held a meeting with the AGL chair and CEO, with the two parties apparently “agreeing to disagree” about the future of the company, its proposed demerger and the timetable to shut down its coal generators.
AGL has twice rebuffed takeover offers from Cannon-Brookes and its then partner Brookfield Asset Management, before launching into a war of words last week after Cannon-Brookes spent $660 million on a share market raid that delivered 11.3 per cent of the company.
It is yet to be seen whether that stake will be sufficient enough to block the demerger, which most go to a vote of shareholders on June 15.
The two parties met on Monday, with Cannon-Brookes and Grok CEO Jeremy Kwong-Law meeting with AGL chair Peter Botten and CEO Graeme Hunt.
The Grok team, including Cannon-Brookes, has now embarked on an intensive week long campaign to win over institutional and small shareholders.
Grok argues that AGL’s planned exit from coal is too slow, and the demerger will weaken the company. Some of the “risks” outlined in AGL’s own scheme booklet confirmed some of those claims, including that its planned closure is not aligned with Paris targets.
It will also question the value and debt levels of AGL Australia, which will be pitched as the ‘clean” retailing arm with a focus on distributed energy.
It will also highlight AGL’s admission that the strategy is not in line with the Paris climate targets, and its decision to use the Australian Energy Market Operator’s step change scenario to justify the AGL Australia outlook, not not the coal-focused Accel.
AGL insists that the Loy Yang A brown coal generator can generate up to 2045, but Cannon-Brookes says it should be shut down by 2035 at the latest.
The AEMO step change scenario assumes all brown coal generators are gone before then – by around 2032 – and the overwhelming majority of energy market stakeholders agree with this analysis.
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