IFM, which is already Pacific Hydro’s biggest shareholder with a 31.6% stake, has announced it would pay US$3.58 a share for the company, a 10 US cent per share improvement on Acciona’s bid, announced in March, and 18 US cents higher than the last trading price. The bid from Acciona valued Pacific Hydro at US$551M. IFM manages US$4.7B in funds on behalf of some of Australia’s largest not-for-profit or industry superannuation schemes.

Pacific Hydro has about 270MW of hydro power and wind energy generating plants. Some of these plants generate carbon allowances that can be sold under the Kyoto Protocol. Pacific Hydro may generate by 2010 as many as 3M metric tons of carbon allowances that are eligible for trading under the protocol.