Street Talk

Changing gears: Kinetic’s sell-side revs up bidders with new pitch

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Jan 30, 2025 – 5.14pm

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It’s been a long road for Kinetic’s private capital owners, the $4 billion multinational bus group whose sale was halted late last year after bids for 100 per cent of the business failed to meet expectations. But Street Talk understands sell-side adviser Macquarie Capital has done some soul-searching over the Christmas break, fronting up to interested parties with a new pitch.

Rather than a full sale, sources said private capital owners Canadian pension fund OPTrust and minority shareholder Foresight Australia have reemerged with a breakup play, offering Kinetic’s Australian and New Zealand assets. The owners will hold on to the remaining international assets.

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.