The offer has been rejected by Infratil’s board on the basis of the undervaluation of the company’s assets

laptop-3196481_640

Infratil board said that the terms of AustralianSuper’s offer are not attractive for the company’s shareholders. (Credit: aymane jdidi from Pixabay)

Infratil, a New Zealand energy and transport infrastructure company, has rejected a revised takeover bid of $3.78bn or NZ$7.43 ($5.26) per share from AustralianSuper.

The New Zealand company’s board rejected the indicative, non-binding proposal for undervaluing its portfolio of assets along with some of its other terms.

The Australian pension fund has been planning to acquire all the shares of Infratil by way of a scheme of arrangement.

AustralianSuper infrastructure head Nik Kemp said: “As a well capitalised and long term investor, we see significant potential to invest in the growth of Infratil’s assets over the long term on behalf of AustralianSuper’s members, which allows us to provide significant value to Infratil shareholders today.

“We believe our Proposal, if implemented, would deliver an attractive premium for Infratil shareholders. AustralianSuper will continue to seek engagement with the Board of Infratil to afford Infratil shareholders the opportunity to assess our Proposal in full.”

In the energy industry, Infratil holds a 51% stake in Trust Power, 66% stake in Tilt Renewables, 40% stake in Longroad Energy, and a 40% stake in Galileo Green Energy.

Earlier this week, Infratil revealed plans to carry out a strategic review of its stake in Tilt Renewables, which is a renewables platform in Australia and New Zealand.

The review, which is expected to be completed within six months, will see Infratil assessing alternatives for the business, which could include a sale of its stake.

Originally, AustralianSuper offered to acquire Infratil for NZ$6.4 ($4.53) per share in October 2020. The pension fund revised its offer in late November to increase its cash component.

Infratil said that the latest offer has material conditions related to approvals from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board and New Zealand Overseas Investment Office.

Infratil chief executive Marko Bogoievski said: “Both proposals were unsolicited and materially undervalue our significant renewable energy and digital infrastructure platforms.

“We expect some of the additional value to be demonstrated in the near term with the recently announced strategic review of Tilt Renewables, which will continue, and ongoing appreciation of the value of CDC Data Centres.”