Brookfield looks to buy Aussie container terminal company
by The Canadian Press
The target firm operates four container terminals and runs an Australian national freight rail network
TORONTO—A consortium led by Brookfield Infrastructure has a deal to buy Asciano Ltd. in a friendly deal that values the Australian rail and container terminal company at the equivalent of C$11.6 billion.
Asciano operates container terminals in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth and an Australian national freight rail network with 664 locomotives.
The consortium is offering Asciano shareholders the equivalent of C$8.85 per share—partly in cash and partly in units of Brookfield Infrastructure.
In addition, Asciano would also pay its shareholders a special dividend that could be worth up to 39 Australian cents per share.
Brookfield Infrastructure says the deal gives Asciano a total value of A$12 billion, including A$3.1 billion of assumed debt.
The Bermuda-based affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management would own 55 per cent of Asciano with an investment of US$2.8 billion, or about C$3.67 billion at current exchange rates.
