Thank you for your thoughts, but I would just like to add to
@csadeev 's proposition for a joint venture with an equity partner which I think makes a lot of sense.
The concerns that a joint venture would reduce our revenue share in the battery is true. But a capital raise has just reduced our share in the Bouldercombe battery, Kidston wind, Kidston solar, Kidston pumped hydro, etc.. For every $1 of future revenue from Kidston pumped hydro, this capital raise means you now only get 75c. Your ownership has dropped from 1/100,000,000 to 1/1,266,000,000 for the ENTIRE company. And while future share buy backs may be possible, these would occur at substantially higher prices than 15c per share when the cash flow from the pumped hydro scheme is coming through.
My understanding for capital allocation is that you invest when the return on invested capital (ROIC) is greater than the weighted average cost of capital (WACC). The board seems completely unaware of this. They believe that the WACC is equal to the interest rate printed on their senior notes (undisclosed for the $35m facility), and have completely ignored the cost of the capital raise (~25%). A joint venture, or use of green bonds, or just delaying the decision would massively reduce the WACC to acceptable levels.
As long as they continue to invest in new infrastructure that requires more capital than they can get through the debt markets, the value of the shares and our ownership stake will be reduced as they approach the equity markets. I personally would prefer a smaller Genex with a higher capital ownership, than a bigger company to which I have a diluted ownership. If they delayed the battery decision until FY24/25, then we can have our cake and eat it too. The cash flow from Energy Australia's $50m p/a payment on Kidston pumped hydro would be more than sufficient to go to the debt markets and build more batteries. A small delay in their empire-building strategy would create vast amounts of wealth for existing shareholders.
The Board is stacked with technological folks, which is fantastic. But Simon Kidston is the ex investment banker from HSBC and Macquarie, I would have expected him to to understand capital limit requirements, equity raises, etc. Personally I've been willing to take on the operational risks, but I have underestimated the capital risks. As long as they plan to develop more batteries prior to the pumped hydro coming online, I won't participate in any further capital raises.
