SYDNEY – A consortium led by Australian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes that includes Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners is in final discussions to acquire collapsed solar megaproject company Sun Cable, sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Sun Cable’s A$30 billion (S$26.5 billion) project aimed to build Australia’s largest solar farm and transmit the power by subsea cable to Singapore.
Technology tycoon Cannon-Brookes’ family office, Grok Ventures, is nearing a deal with FTI Consulting, administrators for Sun Cable, after vying for the asset against Squadron Energy, according to the sources.
Deliberations are ongoing and there is no certainty they will result in a deal, the sources said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. Representatives for Grok and Quinbrook declined to comment, while spokesmen for Squadron and FTI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
News of the talks was reported earlier on Thursday by The Australian.
Sun Cable entered into voluntary administration in January after its shareholders failed to reach consensus on its future direction and funding. FTI appointed MA Moelis Australia as an adviser soon after that as it planned to take binding offers for a recapitalisation of the company.
Both Mr Cannon-Brookes and Mr Andrew Forrest, a mining billionaire who owns Squadron, had invested in the start-up.
The collapse of Sun Cable has become a turning point for Messrs Cannon-Brookes and Forrest, former allies who are now backing different approaches to Australia’s green energy transition.
Mr Forrest, founder of iron-ore miner Fortescue Metals Group, assembled Australia’s largest renewables platform with Squadron after purchasing developer CWP Renewables in late 2022. Mr Cannon-Brookes, founder of software firm Atlassian, has turned to shareholder activism, haranguing utility company AGL Energy over its plans to exit coal power.
Mr Forrest is a proponent of developing an export industry for green hydrogen from Australia to energy-hungry Asian countries, while Mr Cannon-Brookes continues to believe in the viability of Sun Cable’s plan to use undersea cabling to transmit solar power.
Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong said in a written parliamentary reply in February that the Republic is not financially affected by the collapse of Sun Cable, and its target to import up to four gigawatts of low-carbon electricity by 2035 remains on track.
Sun Cable’s proposal was among more than 20 received by Singapore’s Energy Market Authority (EMA) in its ongoing requests for proposals for electricity imports. As part of the tender process, the EMA had been clarifying Singapore’s technical requirements with the renewable-energy company, but had “not made any commitment, financial or otherwise”, Mr Gan said then. BLOOMBERG
