Street Talk

Macquarie readies sale of $450m-a-year Kinetic; seeks 10x multiple

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

May 9, 2024 – 7.24pm

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Kinetic Group, the largest bus operator in Australasia and a dominant player in bus and rail operations globally, makes close to $450 million in earnings and is riding the crest of megatrends like decarbonisation, urbanisation and digitisation.

That’s the pitch from sell-side adviser Macquarie Capital in a sale flyer sent to prospective strategic and financial investors and seen by Street Talk. Interested parties are being told Kinetic will likely fetch a sale multiple in the low teens based on recent comparable transactions, implying a $4 billion-plus deal is on the cards.

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.