Street Talk

Japanese suitor straps in for $3b North Queensland Airports auction

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Dec 2, 2024 – 6.12pm

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North Queensland Airports’ $3 billion auction is preparing for take off, and there’s a surprising suitor lurking in the boarding queue.

Street Talk understands Japanese trading house Sojitz is looking to stitch up a bidder consortium for NQA, the holding company of the Cairns and Mackay airports, which has forecast $115 million EBITDA this financial year. Owners JP Morgan and Macquarie-run The Infrastructure Fund have put 100 per cent of their shareholdings up for sale.

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. Email Sarah at sarah.thompson@afr.com

Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column. Email Kanika at kanika.sood@afr.com.au

Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review. Connect with Emma on Twitter. Email Emma at emma.rapaport@afr.com