A group led by a unit of Canadian asset manager Brookfield Asset Management agreed to buy Australia’s Asciano Ltd in a deal valued at $8.84 billion (£5.6 billion), creating a global rail, port and logistics business.
Advertisement
Asciano requested a trading halt for its shares on Monday pending an announcement, and will release its results for the year to June on Tuesday as scheduled. Japan Post Holdings Co. agreed to purchase logistics operator Toll Holdings Ltd.in February for A$6.5-billion, while a consortium including China Merchants Group Ltd. acquired Newcastle Port last year for A$1.75-billion.
Brookfield Infrastructure, the Bermuda-based infrastructure arm of Brookfield Asset Management, owns utilities, transport, energy and communications infrastructure in North and South America, Europe and Australia.
Brookfield and its partners are offering existing Asciano shareholders the equivalent of $8.85 Cdn per share, with about three-quarters of that in cash and Brookfield Infrastructure Partnership units for the remainder.
Brookfield will offer A$6.94 a share in cash and 0.0387 Brookfield Infrastructure units for Asciano, the company said in a statement.
Brookfield Infrastructure already owns Brookfield Rail, a 5100-kilometre freight rail network in Western Australia, as well as the Dalrymple Bay coal terminal in north Queensland. They fell as much as 7 percent earlier.
The transaction has received the unanimous support of the Asciano Board of Directors and will be implemented by a scheme of arrangement under Australian law which will see Asciano shareholders receive an implied value of about A$9.15 per Asciano share.
Brookfield will secure a 55 per cent stake in Asciano, while Brookfield-sponsored and managed private funds will claim 23 per cent and two institutional partners will evenly split the remaining 22 per cent.
Advertisement
Asciano shares have traded at a discount to Brookfield’s indicative offer since news first broke of the bid on July 1.
