Brookfield looks to buy Aussie container terminal company
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.