Caltex petrol stations deal in Charter Hall’s grasp

Caltex is in talks with potential buyers of its portfolio of petrol stations Picture: Matt Taylor

While APN Property and a few unlisted funds are weighing up a purchase of a stake in the $2bn Caltex petrol station portfolio, most believe it will be Charter Hall’s for the taking.

Since Alimentation Couche-Tard abandoned plans amid the COVID-19 pandemic to launch a takeover bid for Caltex, the fuel retailer has been back in talks with potential buyers of the portfolio.

As DataRoom reported in 2018, Charter Hall was in talks about buying stakes in the assets before they were placed on the market that year by UBS and was always seen as being in the box seat to secure them.

The problem has been that Caltex at that time abandoned plans to sell down a stake in the portfolio. Then it once again announced last year that they would be spun off and floated.

This was just before Caltex became a takeover target.

At that time, Caltex said it planned to ­embark on a $1bn property float made up of a half-stake in 250 of its retail sites.

One thought is that while Caltex is in talks with suitors, it may later decide to wait until the market improves to embark on a dual track process to create competitive tension between a sale and an initial public offering.

Charter Hall’s operations will be under the spotlight this week, with many expecting its Charter Hall Long Wale REIT to be subject to an equity raising.

Already, its listed satellite Charter Hall Retail REIT has raised $300m and the Charter Hall Social Infrastructure REIT $115m. The $1.98bn Charter Hall Long WALE REIT had $566.7m of debt at February and $10.1m of cash.

There is talk that investors have been sounded out about a raise in the market already and, should it proceed with a deal this week, JPMorgan and UBS are likely to be on the ticket.

Proceeds will probably be used to fund the purchase of the $700m Aldi distribution centre portfolio if it is the successful bidder. It is carrying out due diligence on the portfolio with backing from Allianz.

Shares have been trading lower in recent days, which could suggest an equity raising is being priced in by the market.