The creation of Envestra is directly linked to the policy of the Australian Government to introduce greater competition into the natural gas industry (for further information refer to Regulatory Regime) by splitting the retail function from the ownership and operation of the distribution networks.
Envestra was formed in August 1997, when the natural gas distribution networks of the former South Australian Gas Company (SAGASCO), Gas Corporation of Queensland (GCQ) and Centre Gas Pty Ltd (in the Northern Territory) were combined into one organisation and floated on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). SAGASCO and GCQ had operated as bundled utility businesses (ie. distributors and retailers) since the 1860s.
At the time of listing on the ASX, Envestra's distribution networks were valued at $900 million (for further information refer to Gas Network Information and Statistics).
In March 1999 Envestra acquired a distribution business in Victoria for approximately $1.2 billion. The purchase increased the Company's assets to $2.1 billion, increased the distribution networks to about 17,000 kilometres and increased the number of consumers supplied with natural gas to 835,000. Today the Company owns about 22,200 kilometres of networks, 1,120 kilometres of transmission pipelines and delivers gas to over 1.1 million consumers.
The total number of Shares issued by the Company is 1,547,890,032 billion (as at November 2011). The Company has about 18,000 shareholders (for further information refer to Top 20 Shareholders).
The major shareholders in Envestra are APA Group and Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd. APA Group holds 32.7% of the issued capital and CKI holds 19.2% (as at 22 November 2011).
On 2 July 2007, the contract to operate, maintain and expand Envestra's distribution networks was transferred to APA Asset Management (for further information refer to Operating and Maintenance Agreements).