The past few years have seen major changes in the Australian energy industry – and yet more are to come. Following the flurry of transactions associated with the privatisation of the Victorian Government’s electricity and gas businesses in the mid- to late 1990s and the privatisation of the South Australian Government’s electricity businesses in 1999-2000, there have been a number of secondary sales. A significant driver for activity in the secondary sales market has been the withdrawal from Australia of a number of US power companies – a withdrawal that, in several cases, has been prompted by pressure to concentrate on and strengthen their core utility operations at home post-Enron.
In July this year, Aquila quit its interests in the Victorian electricity distributor United Energy and the Victorian gas distributor MultiNet. Alliant Energy sold Southern Hydro, the largest privately owned hydro-electric business in Australia, to Meridian Energy in March. Seven months earlier, NRG Energy had sold its half interest in the 192MW coal-fired Collinsville power station in Queensland to Transfield Services. NRG filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May and this has also complicated its recent attempts to sell its 37.5% stake in the Gladstone power station in Queensland and its 100% stake in the Port Augusta power stations in South Australia.
