Street Talk

AirTrunk showers staff with big bonuses as Blackstone deal nears close

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Dec 10, 2024 – 5.00am

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It’s been three months since the deal of the year, Blackstone’s $24 billion acquisition of AirTrunk from Macquarie Asset Management.

It wasn’t just Macquarie who made a motza. So too did the company’s founder and chief executive, Robin Khuda, who walked away with more than $1 billion in cash and kept a stake valued at about the same.

Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones.

Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column.

Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review.