MPower to rebrand as MPR Australia following $19m asset sale to Wollemi Energy

MPower Group (ASX: MPR) has agreed to sell its renewable energy and battery storage business to climate-focused investment firm Wollemi Energy Group for $19 million.

The deal will see MPower offload assets including its renewable energy platform and services business, the Lakeland hybrid solar and battery storage project in Queensland and a pipeline of project opportunities.

On completion, the company will change its name to MPR Australia and have surplus cash of approximately $3.8m after all debts have been paid, which equates to net assets per share of $0.011—a 43.2% premium to the 30-day volume-weighted average price.

Sensible option

MPower chief executive officer Nathan Wise said the company considered the sale its most sensible option.

“The scale of MPower’s future opportunity is very large but it has been challenging to secure project funding in a way that can deliver a sustainable and acceptable outcome to our shareholders,” he said.

“Wollemi’s strategic alignment, growth focus and energy transition expertise make it uniquely positioned to create future value by combining its investment expertise and financial resources with the skills, assets and opportunity that the MPower business brings.”

Lakeland enhancements

Mpower identified several upgrade opportunities to enhance project performance and reliability when it acquired the Lakeland project in 2022.

The company has since implemented a number of improvements and tabled further upgrades to better align project performance with the original design.

Prior to the sale agreement with Wollemi, MPower had engaged with project stakeholders to finalise the scope, timing and funding for the upgrade works.

Narromine divestment

MPower removed $10.36m of short-term debt from its balance sheet earlier this year by divesting the Narromine solar energy project in New South Wales to AMPYR Distributed Energy.

AMPYR now holds 100% equity in the project and has since extinguished all funding costs including principal, capitalised and accrued interest.

Narromine came online in July 2024 and exported more than 5,400 megawatt-hours of energy in its first five months of operation.

MPower was originally responsible for the project’s design and construction and will continue to act as operations and maintenance provider and asset manager.