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Bloomberg
Australia’s Victoria state is “very confident†the winning bid for a 50-year lease to operate the Port of Melbourne, which is valued at between $4 billion and $6 billion, will exceed the book price, state Premier Daniel Andrews said.
“All the market expectation, all the commentators talk about us exceeding the price that we’ve booked, and we are very confident given it’s such a prized asset,†Andrews said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in New York on Tuesday. “We are confident we’ll get a very good price†for Australia’s busiest container terminal, he said.
The port sale will help Victoria, the nation’s second-largest state economy, to build a new Melbourne underground rail tunnel and remove 50 rail level crossings, which is expected to cost as much as A$6 billion ($4.3 billion). It comes amid a flurry of infrastructure privatizations as Australia’s regional governments sell assets to help fund new roads, rail and other projects.
Bidding Groups
Australia’s QIC Ltd. plans to bid for Port of Melbourne with Global Infrastructure Partners and Borealis Infrastructure Management Inc., while IFM Investors Pty has joined with Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets fund and Dutch pension fund APG Groep NV, people familiar with the matter said in April.
A consortium of Chinese investors led by a Zhejiang port group also plans to bid for the asset, people with knowledge of the matter said. Another grouping including Hastings Funds Management Ltd., Kuwait’s Wren House Infrastructure Management Ltd. and Canada’s Alberta Investment Management Corp. dropped out of the bidding last week, the people said.