HK&rsquo s Cheng family bought the business for over US$3 billion in 2017

 

[SINGAPORE] Sembcorp Industries on Monday (Dec 8) confirmed that it is in talks to buy Australian&rsquo s Alinta Energy, the country&rsquo s fourth biggest utilities company.

 

In a bourse filing, it stated that &ldquo it is currently considering potential acquisition opportunities which include Alinta Energy&rdquo .

 

The potential deal was recently reported by the Australian Financial Review (AFR) and The Australian, said the filing.

 

Sembcorp could sign a deal by this Thursday (Dec 11), according to the AFR on Sunday (Dec 7). 

 

Alinta Energy is owned by Hong Kong&rsquo s Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, which bought the company for A$4 billion in 2017 from a group of lenders and investors, including TPG Capital.

 

Chow Tai Fook had been prepping Alinta for sale as early as 2022. The business had then been reportedly valued at about US$3 billion.

 

In addition to Chow Tai Fook, Hong Kong billionaire Henry Cheng&rsquo s family is also behind Hong Kong real estate player New World Development, which has been divesting assets.

 

Alinta has a combined maximum capacity of more than 2.8 GW, according to its website. It has four gas-fuelled power stations, a wind farm and a coal-fired power plant in Australia, as well as a gas-fuelled plant in New Zealand.

 

Its Loy Yang B brown coal-fired power plant in Victoria generates about 1.2 GW, which is about a fifth of the state&rsquo s power supply.

 

The energy player provides gas and electricity to more than 1.1 million homes and businesses in Australia and New Zealand, it said on its website.

 

In a separate Bloomberg report on Oct 22, Sembcorp Industries is said to be in talks to buy a minority stake in the gas-fired business of Thai energy company B.Grimm Power.

 

Sembcorp may acquire 25% to 30% stake for US$500 million to US$600 million, valuing B.Grimm at around US$2 billion, the report said.

 

Sembcorp Industries&rsquo subsidiary has issued $300 million 3.55% fixed rate guaranteed notes due 2046 under its $5 billion Euro Medium Term Note Programme.

 

The payment obligations of Sembcorp Financial Services, the subsidiary, under the notes are unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Sembcorp.

 

The company priced the notes on June 25 at an interest rate of 3.55% per annum, payable semi-annually on Jan 2 and July 2 each year. Sembcorp said that proceeds from the issuance will finance the general corporate purposes and working capital requirements of the company and its subsidiaries, after issue expenses are deducted.

 

The listing of the notes will take place on July 3.

The offering is close to seven times oversubscribed against the target issuance size

 

[SINGAPORE] Sembcorp Industries : U96 0% announced on Wednesday (Jun 25) that its wholly owned subsidiary Sembcorp Financial Services (SFS) had priced the issuance of S$300 million worth of fixed rate guaranteed notes.  

 

The issuance comes under the S$5 billion Euro Medium Term Note programme launched by the energy and urban solutions provider and SFS in July 2023.  

 

Due on Jan 2, 2046, the notes will be issued on Jul 2, 2025, at an interest rate of 3.55 per cent per annum, payable semi-annually on Jan 2 and Jul 2 each year. 

 

The payment obligations of SFS will be unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Sembcorp. 

 

The notes are expected to list on the Singapore Exchange on or around one business day after the issue date. DBS, OCBC and UOB are the managers for the issuance.  

 

The offering was close to seven times oversubscribed against the target issuance size, with strong demand from a diverse base of high-quality fixed income investors including fund managers, insurance companies, central banks and agencies, Sembcorp said. 

 

The company described the issuance as the longest-tenured offering of unrated corporate bonds by a Singapore company in the market in recent times. 

 

Proceeds from the issuance will finance the general corporate purposes and working capital requirements of Sembcorp and its subsidiaries, after issue expenses are deducted, the group said. 

The company will take &lsquo regulatory uncertainties&rsquo into account for new investments in the country

 

[SINGAPORE] The acquisition of a 49-megawatt (MW) hydropower asset in Vietnam by a unit of Sembcorp Industries has been delayed, the company said in a bourse filing on Wednesday (Jun 25). 

 

The completion of the deal by Sembcorp Solar Vietnam, a wholly owned unit of Sembcorp : U96 -0.15%, is still pending government approvals that are expected to be disclosed by the end of the year. 

 

&ldquo Sembcorp will provide further updates if and when completion of the acquisition takes place,&rdquo the company said, adding that it will take regulatory uncertainties into account for new investments in the country.

 

The deal was originally part of the group&rsquo s plans to acquire a 245 MW renewables portfolio in Vietnam, as announced in November 2023. 

 

Last June, the company completed three of the planned transactions, adding 196 MW of operational wind and solar assets to its portfolio. 

 

At the time, Sembcorp had expected the acquisition of the hydropower asset to be completed by the second half of 2024. But in December, it revised the timeline to the first half of 2025, before the latest delay.

This will bring its renewables capacity in the country to more than 6.5 GW

 

Sembcorp Industries on Thursday (Jun 12) announced that its wholly owned renewables subsidiary Sembcorp Green Infra was awarded a 50 megawatt (MW) round-the-clock power project from Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), an Indian public-sector company.

 

Under the build-own-operate project, Sembcorp will integrate around 300 MW of installed capacity that comprises solar and wind energy, as well as battery energy storage solutions, to meet a contracted capacity.

 

Once the project is complete, it will then supply round-the-clock renewable power, supported by battery energy storage solutions, to SECI.

 

This is subject to the execution of a 25-year power purchase agreement with SECI.

 

The project is expected to be ready for commercial operations within 24 months of the date the agreement is signed, Sembcorp said. It will be financed through a mix of internal funds and debt.

 

With the project, Sembcorp will expand its renewables capacity in India to more than 6.5 gigawatts (GW). The group said that its global renewables portfolio has reached 18 GW, including acquisitions pending completion.

 

Sembcorp said that the award of the project is not expected to have material impact on its earnings per share and net tangible assets per share for the fiscal year ending December.