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Alinta was an Australian energy infrastructure company. It has grown from a small,
Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
-based gas distributor and retailer to the largest energy infrastructure company in Australia. It was bought in 2007 by a consortium including
Singapore Power Singapore Power Limited, trading as SP Group ( abbreviation: SP) is a government-affliated electricity and gas distribution company in Singapore. Singapore Power Group is the corporatised entity of the former electricity and gas departments of ...
and various parties which include the now defunct Babcock & Brown funds. Alinta Limited was known as Westnet Infrastructure Group Limited for a time. In March 2011, due to a
deleveraging At the micro-economic level, deleveraging refers to the reduction of the leverage ratio, or the percentage of debt in the balance sheet of a single economic entity, such as a household or a firm. It is the opposite of leveraging, which is the prac ...
transaction by the TPG Group, Alinta became Alinta Energy. Alinta Energy was acquired by Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises in 2017. The successor to the retail gas business is now called
Alinta Energy Alinta Energy is an Australian electricity generating and gas retailing private company owned by Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE). It was sold for $4 billion and was approved Treasurer Scott Morrison in 2017. Alinta Energy has an ...
.


History

In January 1995, the vertical monopolist energy supplier, the State Energy Commission of Western Australia, was dis-aggregated into separate gas and electricity corporations, leading to the formation of AlintaGas. (The word Alinta is derived from the word for flame in a traditional language of the
Yorta Yorta The Yorta Yorta, also known as Jotijota, are an Aboriginal Australian people who have traditionally inhabited the area surrounding the junction of the Goulburn and Murray Rivers in present-day north-eastern Victoria and southern New South Wales ...
nation from
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...
.) On 13 July 2000 legislation was passed by the
Parliament of Western Australia The Parliament of Western Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Western Australia, forming the legislative branch of the Government of Western Australia. The parliament consists of a lower house, the Legislative Ass ...
for the sale of AlintaGas, which listed on the
Australian Stock Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as, ...
(ASX) on 17 October 2000. On 8 May 2003 AlintaGas Ltd changed its name to Alinta Limited. On 23 July 2003 through a series of complicated transactions involving Alinta, Aquila Inc,
United Energy United Energy is a Victorian energy network which distributes electricity across east and south-east Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula to more than 640,000 customers, 90% of which are residential. Its network includes 209,000 poles and over 1 ...
, and AMP Henderson Global, Alinta became the operator, manager and part owner of regulated energy assets in Western Australia and
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...
. In April 2004 Alinta acquired Duke Energy International's assets in Australia and New Zealand. In October 2004 a
DUET A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo ...
/Alinta/
Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for Aluminum Company of America) is a Pittsburgh-based industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary ...
Consortium acquired the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline from Epic Energy. On 4 October 2005 Alinta publicly floated the pipelines and power stations it acquired from Duke Energy International into a separate investment vehicle, Alinta Infrastructure Holdings (AIH) which also traded on the ASX. In October 2006 Alinta, through Alinta IH Pty Ltd (Alinta IHPL), made an offer to buy out the 80% of the shareholding in AIH that it did not already own. By 11 January 2007 Alinta had acquired 91.4%, and moved to compulsorily acquire the remainder. Alinta acquired infrastructure assets and the ''Agility'' business from AGL through a combination of merger and demerger transactions on 25 October 2006. On 9 January 2007 Alinta announced that senior executives and the Chairman were working on a
management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 1 ...
proposal, with
Macquarie Bank Macquarie Group Limited () is an Australian global financial services group. Headquartered and listed in Australia (), Macquarie employs more than 17,000 staff in 33 markets, is the world's largest infrastructure asset manager and Australia's ...
as their advisor. As a result, the
chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
Bob Browning resigned on 11 January 2007, and the company was clearly for sale to the highest bidder. Alinta was acquired on 31 August 2007 by a consortium comprising Singapore Power International (SPI), the largest utility company in Singapore, and Australia's second-largest investment bank, Babcock & Brown Infrastructure (BBI) and Babcock & Brown Power (BBP) with a bid of A$13.9 billion, beating out a rival bid by Macquarie Bank. Alinta was delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange in September 2007. Alinta was split into the following businesses: * Alinta, retaining the Western Australian gas retail business. Alinta Limited for a time was known as Westnet Infrastructure Group Limited. In 2017, This business now trading as Alinta Energy was acquired by Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises. * WestNet Energy, which provides asset management, operational, construction and maintenance services to the owners of the AlintaGas Networks gas distribution system in Western Australia; and to the owners of the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline. It is also a major contractor in overhead and underground electricity cabling. * Alinta LGA, renamed to
Jemena SGSP (Australia) Assets Pty Ltd (SGSPAA), trading as Jemena, is an Australian company that owns, manages or operates energy infrastructure assets in the eastern states of Australia including Queensland and New South Wales, and gas pipelines and ...
on 4 August 2008, which manages energy infrastructure assets in the eastern states of Australia including Queensland and New South Wales, and gas pipelines and gas and electricity distribution networks in Victoria. Later, ownership of Jemena passed to Singapore Power International, and its name was changed to SPI (Australia) Assets Pty Ltd. In 2014, State Grid Corporation of China acquired a 60% stake in Jemena, and the company's name was changed to SGSP (Australia) Assets Pty Ltd (SGSPAA). The company continues to trade as Jemena. Since the restructuring Alinta has continued to grow and diversify to become one of Australia's largest energy companies. Alinta has been a key investor in Australia's renewable energy projects and plans to build the world's largest offshore wind farm, a 50 MW solar thermal plant at Port Augusta in South Australia in 2013.


References


External links


Australian Science at Work – State Electricity Commission of Western Australia (1945–1975)


{{EnergyWA Former government-owned companies of Western Australia