According to the Australian Financial Review, one of the country’s largest agribusiness groups, Elders, is paying $475 million to acquire Delta Ag, a private-equity backed firm that provides everything from real estate services to bulk fertiliser supply.
The deal to buy a rival one-third its size which operates in many of the same towns is expected to be scrutinised by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Delta has been largely owned by Odyssey Private Equity, which bought into the company in 2019. Odyssey had previously considered selling its stake in 2022, when it drafted in UBS to look at potential transactions.

https://www.afr.com/companies/agriculture/agribusiness-group-elders-in-475m-buyout-of-rival-delta-ag-20241115-p5kqyt
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, the new chief executive of Tomago Aluminium, the country’s biggest electricity user, says the smelter’s goal of switching to a predominantly clean power later this decade is not achievable, derailing its emissions reduction targets for 2030 and putting the plant’s future at risk.
Jerome Dozol, who took over as chief executive in July, said the energy price on offer was too high for the Tomago smelter near Newcastle to keep running without government assistance. He called for “urgent action” to secure continued operations at the plant, whose existing electricity supply contract with AGL Energy expires at the end of 2028.
The difficulties being experienced by Tomago point to a wider problem across industrial and commercial businesses that want to switch to cleaner electricity supplies, but need guaranteed, round-the-clock power.
That requirement does not align with an electricity supply system that is increasingly moving towards weather-dependent wind and solar, and where batteries and other storage plants are still inadequate to fill in the gaps.

https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/the-country-s-biggest-aluminium-smelter-says-green-target-unreachable-20241015-p5kick
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, Gold Coast rocket company Gilmour Space has secured long-awaited approval to launch its Australian-made rocket into space after a two-year battle with the regulator that caused doubts among its investors and future customers over the start-up’s future.
The company, which is backed by venture capital firm Blackbird Ventures and superannuation giant HostPlus, is attempting to launch a low-cost rocket into orbit from a space station outside the northern Queensland town of Bowen.
Gilmour Space is valued at $605 million and represents Australia’s most promising chance to own a piece of the space market, delivering satellites and other hardware in competition with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, but it has been hit by delays in attaining regulatory approval to conduct its first launch.

https://www.afr.com/technology/gold-coast-rocket-company-gets-green-light-for-first-launch-20241103-p5kni0
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According to The Australian Financial Review, fourth-generation Fremantle fisherman Fedele Camarda has been treading water for four years.
A Chinese ban on importing Australian rock lobsters had denied the WA industry its major customer. The move drastically reduced prices and cut margins as costs climbed.
However, recent confirmation that China would lift its sanctions on Australian rock lobsters was “a light at the end of the tunnel” for hundreds of fishermen, Mr Camarda said.
“To have China back and buying the product at that time of the year, it helps us a lot if we’re going to get a better return for our product,” Mr Camarda said.
“Just being able to move the product when China’s in play, it means that the volumes that we catch, it’s a lot easier to move that product.”

https://www.afr.com/companies/agriculture/wa-fishermen-celebrate-end-of-lobster-ban-20241011-p5khnu

According to The Australian Financial Review, Australian Government says its moves to streamline reviews of foreign investment proposals are already bringing capital into the economy more quickly, with nearly half of applications approved within 30 days in the first quarter of the financial year.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced an overhaul of approvals for overseas investors with a proven track record earlier this year, promising accelerated reviews for trusted investors and tougher scrutiny for riskier proposals, such as Chinese entities looking to invest in critical infrastructure and minerals.
Dr Chalmers told that the new rules were helping secure additional progress.
In 2023-24, the proportion of investment applications approved within 30 days was just 35 per cent. This year the total has risen to about 47 per cent.
The treasurer said the improvement was substantial, and was being driven by increased resourcing for processing of proposals related to critical infrastructure, minerals, critical technology, sensitive data sets and developments close to defence sites.

https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/foreign-investment-approvals-speeding-up-20241107-p5kosv

According to The Australian Financial Review, Japanese conglomerate Mizuho has taken a $US20 million ($30 million) minority stake in Pollination, an Australian-founded investment bank and advisory business established five years ago.
The global firm, which focuses on financing the transition away from fossil fuels, was founded by Martijn Wilder and Tony O’Sullivan, and has offices in London, Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Chicago and Washington DC.
Pollination has described the new investment as a partnership focused on helping clients implement their climate transition plans.

https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/japan-s-bank-giant-mizuho-buys-into-green-advisory-firm-pollination-20241103-p5knjz
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, the costs of solar power generation in Australia needs to fall by about two-thirds for green hydrogen to stack up economically, the head of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency says.
ARENA chief executive Darren Miller said green hydrogen economically “does not work today at all, in any circumstances” because the cost structures were still too expensive.
The cost of solar generation would need to fall from today’s level of about $60 a megawatt-hour down to $20/MWh for the economics to work for green hydrogen, which offers the hope of emissions-free fuel for heavy industry with few other options to cut their carbon dioxide footprint.

https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/huge-cost-cuts-needed-in-solar-for-hydrogen-to-work-arena-20241021-p5kk3d
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According to The Australian Financial Review, Australia has a huge opportunity to be a significant green export player, but leading industrial executives warn the chance will be missed unless the government quickly puts in place the right supports to give companies the confidence to invest.
The general manager of Rio Tinto’s Pacific Renewable Energy unit Vik Selvaraja said it was critical that Australia get the right policy frameworks in place as soon as possible to make goods such as green steel or aluminium before the opportunity is grasped by other countries.
Almost half of Rio Tinto’s emissions are generated by the Pacific Aluminium division, which includes fossil fuel-powered aluminium smelters in NSW and Queensland, as well as two fossil fuel-powered alumina refineries near Gladstone. Mr Selvaraja said the government should consider production tax credits to subsidise green aluminium manufacturing.

https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/match-overseas-incentives-to-spur-australia-s-green-exports-20241022-p5kk74

According to The Australian Financial Review, owners of Queensland’s lucrative Kestrel coking coal mine say they will put the operation on the market, kick-starting a multibillion-dollar auction and escalating the deal fever that has swept the sector over the past year.
Kestrel is Australia’s sixth-largest coking coal mine, according to analysts at resources consultancy Wood Mackenzie, and generated $1.26 billion of cash flow from operations and $474.5 million of net profit in the past two years.
The mine in the Bowen Basin is 42 per cent owned by EMR Capital, a private equity firm that specialises in resources, while major Indonesian coal group Adaro holds 38 per cent. The rest is owned by Japan’s Mitsui. They purchased the mine from Rio Tinto in 2018 for $2.9 billion.

https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/emr-capital-puts-queensland-s-kestrel-coal-mine-up-for-mega-auction-20241017-p5kj58
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, Australia’s transition to low-carbon energy has been complicated by a third-straight quarterly increase in coal power generation, buffeted by a smaller contribution from large-scale solar farms as they are edged out of the grid by households.
The figures from the University of NSW confirm the extent of curtailment at solar farms amid soaring rooftop solar generation, with the drop in output from large-scale solar plants detected despite their increased capacity, measured year-on-year. Wholesale power prices increased over the same time frame.
Subdued demand for electricity and bumper generation from rooftop panels has regularly forced extraordinary cutbacks in output from large renewable sources witnessed over the past several weeks. Owners of solar and wind farms are compelled to switch off plants to save themselves from losses when prices sink to zero, or even lower.

https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/power-prices-surge-as-renewables-output-flatlines-20241007-p5kgcd