Di Pilla's power pothole
Yet more tumult for HMC Capital, as its energy transition strategy follows its hospital and data centre funds into the market doghouse.
Only in December, HMC Capital's David Di Pilla thought he had pulled off a coup in purchasing a portfolio of Australian renewable energy assets from Neoen, a French power utility itself being purchased by private equity giant Brookfield, for a total outlay of $950 million. The market liked the strategy too, given HMC planned to flick the assets off to an unlisted fund for big institutional investors and HMC would clip the ticket for managing said fund.
But on Tuesday the market fell out of love with HMC's Julia Gillard-chaired renewables play, slashing the company's valuation 17 per cent to a two-year low of $4.22 per share. Since hitting an all-time high last year, HMC's market value has plunged by $3.3 billion. Investors buying the vision burger in HMC have found themselves with a bad case of reality indigestion.
The market spat the dummy because HMC's plan to build a special energy infrastructure fund – on which it would earn jammy management fees – stepped into a pothole sometime between May 6 and yesterday.