Ark Energy, a wholly-owned Australian subsidiary of Korea Zinc, announced it will acquire a 100% interest in Epuron, a leading utility-scale wind and solar energy developer in Australia.
Commenting on the transaction, Yun B. Choi, Chairman of Ark Energy and Vice Chairman of Korea Zinc said this friendly acquisition allows us to accelerate Korea Zinc Group’s energy transition and contributes to Ark Energy’s long-term ambition to develop a new green energy export corridor from Australia to South Korea.
“Ark Energy’s commitment to accelerate the energy transition requires us to significantly enhance our capability to develop and build-out a large renewable energy portfolio. We will leverage our parent company’s strong balance sheet to expand Epuron’s existing business model and leverage the group’s internal demand from the production of green non-ferrous metals, and our own demand from green hydrogen production, to fast-track the build-out of Epuron’s development portfolio,” Mr Choi said.
Kathy Danaher, Vice Chairwoman of Ark Energy, stated that in addition to the substantial portfolio of highly attractive development projects, a key attraction for Ark Energy was the Epuron team’s demonstrated track record in all aspects of renewable energy and energy storage, as well as a broad set of skills ranging from site scoping to pre-construction.
“We look forward to welcoming the team into the Ark Energy family and providing an environment where they can grow under an expanded business model,” Ms Danaher said.
Martin Poole, Co-Founder of Epuron, stated that since its inception over 18 years ago, Epuron has been a part of a rapidly evolving energy industry.
“With the energy transition accelerating, it is a hugely positive step for us to be joining a group with Ark Energy’s track record and shared vision to scale up investment in renewable energy production in Australia. We have made a significant contribution to Australia’s energy transition to date and look forward to doing even more over the next chapter with Ark Energy,” Mr Poole said.
Andrew Durran, Epuron’s co-founder, stated that the company has built over 3,000MW of capacity, with 1,000MW presently operational or under construction, as well as a sizable and increasing pipeline.
“Our decision to bring in Ark Energy as new owners follows a strategic review in which we decided to pivot towards long term ownership of our renewable energy projects in Australia. With Ark we are excited by the potential to apply our experience to more projects and play an even larger role in Australia’s energy transition,” Mr Durran said.
