Brookfield’s Origin Saga Shows It’s Hard to Price Polluters

SYDNEY—At the heart of a nearly US$11 billion takeover tussle for the owner of several Australian coal-fired power plants is a key question for investors: how to value a major polluter that could also become a big enabler of the energy transition.

It isn’t proving easy. A consortium led by Brookfield Asset Management has made an offer for Origin Energy worth 9.43 Australian dollars a share, equivalent to US$6.21 a share, that it says is fair to shareholders. Brookfield says it will spend up to US$30 billion on accelerating Origin’s shift to renewable energy and storage over the decade through 2033.