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Infrastructure

Yesterday

Global shipping lines are preparing to skip ports and adjust voyage schedules amid expectations demand for consumer goods will drop following the new US tariffs.

Trump trade war shakes up shipping and ripples to Australia

International shipping lines are cancelling scheduled port calls or entire voyages and some are preparing to idle vessels with crew aboard as cargo volumes drop.

This Month

Sydney Airport is postponing some transport and hotel projects as it improves some terminals and security screening systems

Sydney Airport takes $46m write-down on deferred hotel, transport hubs

It is postponing some projects as it overhauls its business strategy and prepares to deliver a new 20-year master plan.

James Hardie CEO Aaron Erter with former NFL player Ronde Barber at the launch event of the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational

James Hardie CEO parties in Florida as shareholders seethe

Aaron Erter was on a Boca Raton pool deck as James Hardie shareholders were left furious by the company’s latest acquisition.

GIP owns a stake in Sydney Airport and is eyeing Cairns and Mackay airports.

C’est parti! France’s Vinci bids for $3b Cairns, Mackay airports

The French infrastructure player has lobbed a non-binding indicative bid for the North Queensland airports and is up against Sojitz Corporation and Japan Airlines.

Transgrid is a monopoly asset.

Singapore’s GIC to acquire $1b-plus stake in NSW’s Transgrid

UTA’s sale has played out in parallel with fellow shareholder OMERS’ negotiations to sell a 19.99 per cent stake, acquired for $2 billion-plus in 2020, to the Future Fund.

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March

An artist’s impression of the Macquarie Point Stadium in Hobart.

Stadium cost blowout latest threat to newest AFL team

The forecast costs were released in an independent report by the Tasmanian Planning Commission, which will decide whether the project should go ahead.

CPB Contractors managing director Jason Spears says foreign companies underestimate Australia’s rules and regulations

Building giant says low bids from global rivals put projects at risk

The managing director of CPB Contractors says multi-billion dollar infrastructure work is coming unstuck because some big rivals don’t understand local cost.

Juan Santamaria: Capacity constraints.

How the builder of the Sydney Metro is adapting to Donald Trump

Five years after a $1 billion loss, Juan Santamaria has changed the way construction giant CIMIC works to avoid US tariffs and ride the data centre boom.

Plenary’s newly appointed CEO Paul Crowe.

Plenary anoints new CEO, eyes $3.7b Brisbane Olympics stadium

The CEO change comes as Plenary is preparing to lob a proposal for a new $3.7 billion stadium approved this week for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

Kinetic Group and Globalvia teamed up to buy UK-based Go-Ahead Group last year.

New York’s Stonepeak test drives $4b-plus bus operator Kinetic’s ANZ biz

Kinetic’s ANZ arm runs the biggest fleet of buses in both countries and generated $1.2 billion revenue last year.

ProTen is among Australia’s top chicken producers.

Canadian suitor clucks at Aware’s $1b-plus chicken producer, ProTen

ProTen is being courted by Canada’s Northleaf, US private equity giant KKR and Sydney’s Roc Partners.

Home-building activity will remain weak until next year, says Brickworks CEO Mark Ellenor.

New home targets ‘not going to go close to being met’

The leader of Australia’s biggest brick-making group, Brickworks, says Australia still won’t have built enough new homes by 2029 to meet government targets.

Woods Bagot partner John Prentice says there must be a better way to keep the clocks than at Central’s underground clock room.

In Pictures: Central Station’s hidden clocks

Central Station’s hidden clock tour, a mix of historical and modern clocks.

The AI economy has a massive vulnerability

Subsea cables channel data and power, but they face escalating dangers, and multiple incidents in the past few months have highlighted those risks.

Less passengers are travelling through airports than before COVID-19 but airports are reporting record aeronautical revenue.

Airport ‘super profits’ back as revenue hits record

Australia’s biggest airports were flush in 2023-34 despite the number of travellers remaining below pre-pandemic levels.

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John Holland is taking losses on its construction contracts for Melbourne’s new Metro Tunnel and stations

Melbourne blowouts tip John Holland into $55.5m loss

The construction giant slid into the red from a profit of almost $100 million a year earlier due to “project delivery issues” and cost blowouts.

Silk Logistics’ shares tumbled after the ACCC said it would scrutinise the company’s proposed sale to stevedore DP World Australia.

ACCC warning on DP World’s $174m takeover sends Silk shares diving

The purchase of the ASX-listed warehousing and port services group by the global stevedore could lessen competition and send the price of goods higher.

ASIC sniffs at Worley’s $1.4 billion monster block trade

The corporate regulator has been asking questions related to Sidara’s $1.4 billion sale of Worley stock last year.

Loss-making tower network operator Indara is XXXX

AustralianSuper’s Indara reviews ‘smart city’ assets as losses mount

Australian Super’s loss-making telcoms tower business, Indara, is reviewing its troubled smart city infrastructure businesses as it searches for a new boss.

February

Will Davidson, UHL CEO (left) and Stephen Cartwright, CEO of GoZero, with a GoZero electric bus at Lane Cove bus depot.

EV bus builder GoZero clinches $400m valuation; kicks off IPO campaign

Morgans and MA Moelis Australia have been appointed joint lead managers on the IPO and will be in the fast lane for a mid-2025 listing date.

Hugh Wehby, new Atlas Arteria CEO.

Atlas Arteria tries to claw back $20b in lost returns on US toll road

The ASX-listed company, partially owned by IFM Investors, says the state of Virginia tried to force the Dulles Greenway toll road near Washington DC into bankruptcy.

Worley boss Chris Ashton expects the engineering group to benefit from a resurgence in fossil fuel projects.

Worley expects profit boost from Trump energy policies

The engineering group’s shares jumped 11 per cent after it announced a $500 million share buyback and said it would benefit from a resurgence in fossil fuel projects.

Bingo lenders shop debt after S&P downgrade

Sharp-nosed credit funds in Sydney have fielded approaches from New York’s Cantor Fitzgerald, which is said to be shopping a $100 million-plus parcel of Bingo debt.

Sanjeev Gupta’s Whyalla steelworks.

Whyalla steelworks fallout trips up $1.5b mining contractor

NRW Holdings must hastily redo its half-year result because its Golding business is owed up to $120 million in the collapse of part of Sanjeev Gupta’s empire.

The South Australian government  put Sanjeev Gupta’s Whyalla steelworks into administration on Feb 19 with emergency legislation, declaring it was fed up with unpaid bills.

Gupta’s ‘ringfenced’ InfraBuild bought $430m of Whyalla steel

KordaMentha will scrutinise the sizeable related-party transactions in the administration of the stricken steelworks.

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