May 27 (Reuters) - Tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes is
seeking two seats on AGL Energy's board, if the
Australian power producer's plan to split into two companies
fail.
In the letter addressed to AGL Chair Peter Botten on Friday,
Cannon-Brookes reiterated that the demerger was a 'deeply
flawed' plan and expressed his intention to appoint two nominees
for Grok Ventures - a vehicle he owns - on the board of AGL.
"We intend to engage directly with you and your fellow AGL
Directors in relation to board and management renewal. We want
to ensure that AGL has the talent, capital, capability and
oversight that is required to embrace the opportunity presented
by decarbonisation," according to the letter.
Cannon-Brookes, the co-chief executive officer of software
firm Atlassian and a vocal climate activist, gained an 11.3%
stake in AGL earlier this month by converting a part of his
derivatives-based holding in the company, having failed in a
takeover attempt with Brookfield Asset Management
earlier this year.
The letter follows an announcement from Australian pension
fund HESTA, which joined the tech billionaire in opposing the
demerger, saying it does not see the split supporting
decarbonisation targets laid out by the Paris climate agreement.
Shareholders are set to vote on June 15 on AGL's demerger
plan. The split will form AGL Australia, which will be the
country's top energy retailer, and Accel Energy, the country's
top power producer.
Accel will inherit AGL's coal-fired power plants and the
mantle of Australia's largest carbon emitter, according to
government data.
(Reporting by Tejaswi Marthi in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi
Aich)