Origin Energy Limited (Origin) today noted the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has granted authorisation for the proposed acquisition of the Company by the Consortium comprising Brookfield Asset Management (Brookfield) and MidOcean Energy, an entity managed by EIG Partners.

The authorisation is granted on the basis of undertakings which have been provided separately by Brookfield, AusNet and MidOcean and which have been published by the ACCC.

The ACCC’s decision marks an important milestone in the proposed acquisition of Origin and the parties will continue to progress with the next steps in the Scheme process. Origin notes that the transaction remains subject to the satisfaction of outstanding conditions, including additional regulatory approvals by the Foreign Investment Review Board, National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator and certain other foreign investment approvals.

Next steps

At this stage, shareholders do not need to take any action. Origin is well advanced in the process of preparing the information shareholders need to make an informed decision and have their say on the proposed transaction, including the Scheme Booklet (and an Independent Expert’s Report) to be sent to shareholders.

It is Origin’s intention to provide shareholders with a copy of the Scheme Booklet, including the Independent Expert’s Report and notice of Scheme Meeting, in the coming weeks.

About Origin

Origin Energy (ASX: ORG) is the leading Australian integrated energy company. Origin is the leading energy retailer with approximately 4.2 million customer accounts, has approximately 6,000 MW of power generation capacity and is also a large natural gas producer. Origin is the upstream operator of Australia Pacific LNG, its incorporated joint venture with ConocoPhillips and Sinopec, which supplies natural gas to domestic markets and exports LNG under long term contracts.