SYDNEY—Mike Cannon-Brookes thought Australia’s biggest polluter wasn’t doing enough to curb its greenhouse gas emissions, so he sought to buy the company.
Mr. Cannon-Brookes, the co-founder of Nasdaq-listed software company Atlassian Corp. teamed up with Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management Inc. to try to acquire electricity generator AGL Energy Ltd. , in a proposal valued at more than $3.5 billion. Central to their ambition is a plan to shut AGL’s coal-fired power plants years ahead of schedule and replace them with renewable energy.
