AGL asks billionaire for plans
Not my job: Cannon-Brookes
AGL Energy said Mike Cannon-Brookes declined to share his plans for the company beyond blocking a planned demerger during a meeting between the pair, an ongoing point of tension between the warring sides as they jockey to win over shareholder support for their plans.
The power giant’s chairman, Peter Botten, and chief executive Graeme Hunt held a meeting on Monday evening with the billionaire and Jeremy Kwong-Law, the chief executive of Mr CannonBrookes’s family investment group, Grok Ventures.
The two sides have traded barbs all week, with AGL arguing Mr Cannon-Brookes had no plan for the company and the tech titan accusing AGL of having no Plan B if he was successful in derailing the company restructure.
AGL pointedly said it again raised the issue with its chief protagonist, asking for him to detail a strategy for the company. “Mr CannonBrooks was invited to share his plans beyond simply blocking the demerger. He declined but the offer remains open,” a spokesman said.
However, the Atlassian cofounder batted back criticism over his vision for AGL and said he was focused on acting as a shareholder.
“Ask anyone at AGL who spins you that line of bullshit: whose job is it to come up with plans? Are they really implying that its shareholders’ job to come up with the plans? I’m pretty sure my job is to vote,” Mr CannonBrookes said on Monday before the AGL meeting.
“I’m not the management of the company. I’m not the board. I’m a shareholder. I have a lot of opinions about why I’m voting no. And I’m trying to be clear on that. But to turn around and say I should have the plan. I’m like, that’s literally the whole reason we’re having this vote.”
The power giant plans to split off AGL Australia, with its 4.5 million customer base, into a new retail company with the current AGL to be rebadged as a coal generator called Accel Energy.
The demerger needs approval from 75 per cent of shares voted to proceed. It was the first meeting between the two since the tech titan grabbed an 11.3 per cent stake in AGL on May 2 in a bid to vote down the demerger.
Coal has been another point of tension between AGL and its biggest shareholder, which wants the fossil fuel stripped from its portfolio much earlier than planned closure dates. AGL again suggested it was open to faster shutdown dates.
Separately, JPMorgan said Mr Cannon-Brookes may reprise a fresh takeover tilt for AGL while uncertainty over the demerger would lower the company’s share price and justified a downgrade.
The billionaire and AGL are divided over the restructure and JPMorgan speculated Grok could pounce on the entire company – should he foil the split – or its coal arm if the division went through. “We fail to understand Grok’s strategy that preventing the demerger will facilitate early closure of coal plants,” the analysts noted on Tuesday.