Macquarie Corporate Holdings Pty Limited & Ors

Macquarie Capital (Australia) Limited (MCAL) and its parent company Macquarie Corporate Holdings Pty Limited (MCHPL) (together, Macquarie) are seeking to identify, coordinate and secure a group of buyers (Buyers) to enter into Power Purchasing Agreements (PPAs) to support the development of a new renewable energy project (Project). Currently, the Project relates to the development of a wind energy facility in Victoria. However, if Macquarie and the Buyers cannot reach agreement with the developer in relation to that specific project, Macquarie will seek to identify an alternative large-scale wind farm project in Australia for the Buyer Group.

The application is made by MCHPL on behalf of itself and MCAL, the developer, and Buyers (together, the Applicants).

The individual buyers currently in the Buyer Group are a mix of large and medium-sized commercial and industrial customers with electricity consumption at sites located in Victoria. The Buyers operate across a diverse range of sectors including property, manufacturing, health, finance, telecommunications and retail. It is proposed that the Buyer Group will acquire approximately 50% of the electricity generated by the Project over the duration of the PPAs (around 10 years). The combined electricity generated from the current Project will account for between 0.5-3% of electricity in the NEM and between 2-5% of electricity consumption in Victoria.

Specifically, Macquarie is seeking authorisation on behalf of itself and each of the Applicants to:

·        jointly negotiate, enter into and give effect to an overarching PPA

·        jointly discuss and exchange information, including between Buyers (but only information that needs to be shared between some or all of the Applicants to facilitate the acquisition of electricity from the Project)

·        individually enter into a PPA with the developer on the same (or substantially the same) price and non-price terms and conditions, and

·        jointly negotiate and (as relevant) enter into ‘sleeving arrangements’ under which an intermediary retailer administers the transfer of money and energy under the PPA, in place of the Buyer.

Further detail on the proposed conduct is available in the application for authorisation (from the link below).

The Applicants requested interim authorisation to enable them to progress the joint negotiation process as soon as possible while the ACCC considered the merits of the authorisation application.

On 15 July 2021, the ACCC issued a draft determination proposing to grant authorisation and granting interim authorisation. A copy of the draft determination and interim authorisation decision is available below.

At Macquarie’s request during the consideration of this application, the ACCC delayed issuing a final determination while the members of the Buyer Group were finalised.

On 1 December 2021, the ACCC issued a determination granting authorisation, with a condition, for 14 years.  The condition of authorisation requires Macquarie to provide a public list of the Buyers Group once binding Term Sheets for a minimum aggregate energy volume is reached, and to notify the ACCC when other businesses subsequently join the group in the future.

A copy of the ACCC’s determination is available below under Decisions.