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Infrastructure

This Month

French toll road Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhone is Atlas Arteria’s most profitable toll road asset.

IFM Investors’ stake in Atlas Arteria creeps up to 30pc

The infrastructure investor paid $4.96 per share – or a skinny 2.3 per cent premium to the on-market trading price – in a block trade handled by Jarden’s equities desk.

  • Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
The British public is riled up about pollution and overspills.

Moody’s downgrades Macquarie’s UK water company to junk

The ratings agency said Southern Water’s poor performance made it especially vulnerable to political, regulatory and financial pressures on the wider sector.

  • Hans van Leeuwen
Farewell, Macquarie … A plane takes off from Aberdeen Airport.

Macquarie makes 50pc gain in $3b British airport sell-off

The asset manager was forced to sell off three UK airports as it winds down a closed-end fund. It joins a slew of recent transactions in the frothy sector.

  • Hans van Leeuwen
The Whyalla steelworks is owned by GFG Alliance. Its furnace has been out of action for months.

Gupta owes $684,000 to suppliers in Sydney’s industrial heartland

An Australian business owned by one of India’s richest families is among those chasing payments, while Aurizon extends ban of iron ore transport at Whyalla.

  • Simon Evans
Australia won’t be able to get wind turbines to renewable energy zones quickly unless it builds more roads and bridges.

‘Maybe we can use Zeppelins’: Australia’s missing infrastructure links

Solar panels and wind turbines crucial to Australia’s energy transition are piling up at a key port because the nation does not have the infrastructure to move them.

  • Jenny Wiggins
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Transurban boss Michelle Jablko

‘We didn’t set the tolls’: Transurban pitches new pricing plan

Company boss Michelle Jablko says NSW can’t afford to build roads without private money and is looking at charging corridors according to congestion levels.

  • Jenny Wiggins
There is a big and late contender for IPO of the year.

Di Pilla’s bolt from the blue snatches biggest IPO of the year

Six months ago, no one saw this float coming. But at $1.65 billion, it is the largest raising for a new Australian company since 2018.

  • Anthony Macdonald
Transurban CEO Michelle Jablko says that assest privatisations reflect governemnt priorities at the time.

Inflation shadow falls over privatised infrastructure model

The political fallout from privatisation colliding with a temporary cost of living crisis could end up gumming up the pipeline of public works in the longer run.

  • The AFR View
CDC boss Greg Boorer in 2017 with Steven Worrall of Microsoft.

Australian Retirement Trust eyes stake in $16b CDC Data Centres

It comes two months after ART sold its 7 per cent stake in AirTrunk into the Blackstone bid, booking a $1 billion exit off a $300 million investment.

  • Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Western Harbour Tunnel is under construction and won’t be privatised

Transurban tolls hit NSW roadblock

Transurban and the NSW government are at loggerheads over how to reduce the long-term costs to taxpayers and motorists from Sydney’s sprawling toll road network.

  • Jennifer Hewett
Transurban boss Michelle Jablko

How toll road ‘beeps’ became Australian infrastructure’s hottest issue

Politics and business are colliding in Australian infrastructure. Do we really believe in miracle “win-win” scenarios?

  • Anthony Macdonald
Andrew Jennings, Managing Director - APAC Infrastructure, KKR, speaks on the Panel Infrastructure Investment - how to build returns amid global uncertainty at the Sydney Infrastructure Summit on November 11, 202

Road toll fight shows risk of contract changes a reality for investors

The threat of changes by the NSW government to toll-road concessions is a “reality” for asset owners, but it may erode confidence in Australian assets.

  • Jonathan Shapiro
David Di Pilla has big ambitions for his data centre play.

Inside David Di Pilla’s plans for a blockbuster $1.6b data centre IPO

Should Di Pilla succeed in raising $1.6 billion for the $2.6 billion float, it would take the crown of 2024’s biggest IPO from Guzman Y Gomez.

  • Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
The Port of Newcastle wants to diversify away from coal exports and build a container terminal.

Port of Newcastle’s container terminal pitch tempts foreign investors

The world’s biggest coal export hub has been approached by big investors who want to help fund an expansion that is expected to cost well above $2.5 billion.

  • Jenny Wiggins
When contracts are souped up to get the highest price, it can take a few years to see the consequences.

Seller’s remorse casts shadow over infrastructure needs

Privatising roads and ports gave state governments plenty of cash to fund new work. But NSW’s struggle with $64 toll roads shows there is a long tail of consequences.

  • Anthony Macdonald
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Joe Bartolo, founder and CEO of civil construction and heavy equipment hire group Symal.

From one wheelbarrow and a ute to a $437m ASX listing

Symal Group founder Joe Bartolo started from humble beginnings in 2001 to build his construction group into a large enough player to float on the exchange this year.

  • Simon Evans

October

IFM Investors’ profits fell slightly last financial year but pay went up under chairwoman Cath Bowtell.

Exec pay at IFM Investors jumps 48pc despite profit fall

The infrastructure powerhouse also recorded broadly flat revenue last financial year, but its key management personnel salary bill still soared.

  • Hannah Wootton
Broken Hill mayor Tom Kennedy.

Broken Hill pushes for ‘tens of millions’ in compensation

Broken Hill mayor Tom Kennedy says Transgrid could be fined tens of millions of dollars if its emergency back-up systems are found to be flawed.

  • Jenny Wiggins and Angela Macdonald-Smith
A piece of Melbourne Airport is up for grabs.

Sale docs out for Dexus’ stake in Melbourne, Launceston airports

Melbourne airport revenue grew 17 per cent to $1.2 billion in the 2024 financial year, while EBITDA rose 21 per cent to $82.1 million, according to the teaser.

  • Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Spark NZ’s owns 17 per cent of Connexa, alongside majority holder Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Ontario Teachers mulls selldown at $1b Kiwi mobile towers; eyes on Spark

New Zealand’s largest telco Spark NZ could sell its remaining 17 per cent stake in its passive mobile towers, sources said.

  • Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/companies/infrastructure