KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 — Malakoff Corp Bhd will pay A$130 million (RM382 million) to buy a 50 per cent share in an Australian wind farm, local dailies have reported.
Malakoff, Malaysia’s biggest independent power producer (IPP), will be taking over the share of New Zealand’s Meridian Energy in the Macarthur wind farm.
Australia’s AGL Energy Limited, the owner of the other half of the wind farm, will be running the operations that have been producing electricity since this January.
“It will be our first foray into the Australian renewable energy sector with this large-scale wind project,” Zainal Abidin Jalil, Malakoff’s chief executive officer, was quoted saying yesterday by Reuters.
Malakoff’s purchase includes a long-term agreement that will promise steady income despite market forces, the Malaysian company reportedly said.
The wind farm, with 140 units of turbines and a 420-megawatt (MW) capacity, can reportedly provide clean power to over 220,000 houses in Australia’s southern state of Victoria.
Malakoff is partly owned by Malaysian tycoon Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary’s MMC Corp.
Malakoff is also expected to become a listed company again in the first half of next year after its proposed initial public offering (IPO) was delayed last year.
