Independent Directors of Tilt Renewables reject acquisition bid by Infratil and Mercury

Tilt Renewables has announced that its Independent Directors Committee is advising shareholders to not accept the takeover offer of NZD2.30 (US$1.51) made by its two majority shareholders – Infratil and Mercury NZ. Mercury NZ and Infratil have formed a joint venture to bid for the 29% of the company they do not already own.

Since its establishment around two years ago, Tilt Renewables has amassed approximately 11% market share of installed wind capacity in Australasia, with a total installed capacity of 637 MW across eight wind farms. The company also owns a development pipeline of more than 1,600 MW of planning approved projects covering wind, solar and storage technologies.

The independent directors believes that the offer price does not adequately recognise the value of Tilt Renewables' current operational assets and strong pipeline. Both the price and the 8% premium are too low, and under-value the company. The directors believe that minority shareholders (nearly 11,000 in number) should gain more from the company going private.

The company's statement details that minority shareholders will be provided with a Target Company Statement within two weeks that will include more detail and an independent report by Northington Partners.