Infratil has sold its Australian energy businesses for $A605 million to Snowy Hydro, the operator of the Snowy Mountains Scheme.
Water pipelines that are part of the infrastructure of the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme. Photo: AFP / SNOWY HYDRO LTD
Infratil expects to book a profit on the sale of about $NZ350 million after transaction costs of $57 million, of which $44 million will be paid to Infratil's manager, Morrison & Co.
The infrastructure investor started Infratil Energy Australia, which owns the retailer Lumo Energy and the utilities connections provider Direct Connect, in 2004.
Lumo now has more than 540,000 customers in Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland.
IEA also owns diesel peaking generators in South Australia and New South Wales, generating more than 163 megawatts. In addition it owns a power station development site near Sydney.
Infratil chief executive Marko Bogoievski said the sale price was about 12 times the operating profit and higher than his company had expected.
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