OREANDA-NEWS. August 07, 2013. CLP Holdings is pleased to announce that its wholly - owned subsidiary,  EnergyAustralia, has entered into an agreement with the New South Wales (NSW) State Government to acquire the Mount Piper Power Station and the Wallerawang Power Station that underpin the existing Delta Western GenTrader Agreements, which EnergyAustralia entered into as part of the 2011 NSW electricity privatisation initiative.

The two coal - fired power stations were purchased for a net cash consideration of AUD 160 million (HKD 1,154 million).

The total purchase price for the acquisitions of approximately AUD 475 million (HKD 3, 426 million) includes the balance of the GenTrader Deposits held by the NSW State Government of approximately AUD 315 million (HKD 2,272 million) at  completion.

“The acquisitions reinforce EnergyAustralia’s position as one of the three large stint grated energy businesses in Australia. We will gain unrestricted access to the full 2,400MW capacity of the plants and at less expense than if we continued with the existing GenTrader Agreements. We will also be able to run these assets flexibly, managing capital and operating expenditure in keeping with market performance and business priorities,” said Mr Andrew Brandler, Chief Executive Officer of CLP Holdings.

Direct ownership of the acquired assets will release Energy Australia from fixed contractual commitments and unlock 100 MW of additional capacity that was previously unavailable under the GenTrader arrangement.

It will also provide further scale and flexibility to Energy Australia’s already sizeable portfolio of energy retail, generation and storage assets.

The targeted completion date for the acquisitions is 2 September 2013. The acquisitions will be funded at completion by existing financing facilities within EnergyAustralia.