Australian Power agrees to AGL takeover Diversified energy utility AGL has swooped on troubled electricity retailer Australian Power and Gas, with an agreed takeover bid at 52 cents a share, a 33 per cent premium to the share price. Before the agreed offer, Australian Power shares were trading at 39 cents, which valued the company at $75 million. At least one small cap fund manager had bought heavily into Australian Power in recent months, valuing the company at more than 60 cents a share in a takeover. AGL has been engaged in a bitter battle with Origin Energy and EnergyAustralia to lift its share of the national electricity and gas markets. Its rivals had taken market share in the key NSW market following their earlier purchase of NSW government assets, which prompted AGL to push hard to lift its share. The acquisition comes as AGL is considering bidding to acquire power generation assets from the NSW government, with most interest centred on a potential acquisition of coal power stations from Delta Electricity.