Macquarie director heads to Ross Garnaut’s Zen Energy
Zen Energy, Ross Garnaut’s renewable energy retailer, has lured a Macquarie Asset Management dealmaker to its C-suite while it lines up potential backers via Azure Capital.
Phillipa Chen is joining Zen Energy after 16 years at Macquarie.
Phillipa Chen is joining Zen as its chief financial officer after a 16-year-long stretch at Macquarie. She was most recently a part of its green investment group, working as a part of the team that originated and executed deals – batteries, electric vehicles, waste management and the like – for the Macquarie Energy Transition Fund.
Before this, she did a stint at Macquarie Australia Infrastructure Trust, whose holdings span land registries, utilities and towers. She spent more than four years at Atlas Arteria, back when it was known as Macquarie Atlas Roads. The role saw her being involved in the toll roads owner’s capital market trips, M&A and eventually head investor relations.
It’s a great get for Zen and comes as the climate change-focused electricity retailer seeks funding to branch out into generation. It has had Azure working on a deal since earlier this year, while a recent debt capital markets trip saw it raise $54 million to finance its pipeline of projects.
Zen Energy was founded in 2004. It merged with Sanjeev Gupta’s SIMEC Energy in 2017 with ambitions to build renewable energy for Whyalla Steelworks, but the two parted ways a few years later.
It obtained its electricity license five years ago, and contracts electricity from 20 solar and wind farms. The company has installed 35,000 renewable energy systems across Australia, and counts CSIRO’s NSW sites and the South Australian government as its clients.
Recently, Zen has struck out into producing renewable energy via two
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