It’s a big week for Brookfield as investors in its takeover target Origin Energy vote on its $16bn buyout proposal on Monday.
Expectations are that the deal will be voted down, with AustralianSuper’s 17.5 per cent stake a problem for the group, given its staunch opposition to the deal.
Some think Brookfield will be back in the new year with a second attempt to gain control. At what price and through what structure remains unclear.
Another interesting question is what happens to the Scott Perkins-led Origin board and whether they will want to hang around and work for AustralianSuper, which effectively controls the company.
Or does AustralianSuper even want them to stay, seeing they recommended a deal believed to undervalue the company?
Chief executive Frank Calabria could move on.
Proxy votes were in on Friday, but the true outcome will only be known after the vote, since it’s going down to the wire.
Meanwhile, the other smaller matter Brookfield has to deal with is the sale of its Linx Cargo Care business.
Pacific National is understood to have left the contest, leading some to ask what parties remain in the mix.
Aurizon is also known to be sidestepping the auction.
First-round bids landed on October 27.
Pacific National, the country’s largest private rail freight operator, put in an offer for parts of the business but has now bowed out.
Azure Capital is working on the sale process.
DataRoom understands that suitors have been offered the opportunity to buy the business as a whole or in parts, and how the sale transpires depends on what seems the best value for Linx’s private equity owners.
Among its assets are regional port services as well as a timber logging business in New Zealand.
Linx previously included the Geelong Port, which has been sold to Stonepeak and Spirit Super for $1.1bn.
It is a logistics operator that employs more than 1000 people across Australia and New Zealand.
Linx operates 50 sites, handling 11 million tonnes of bulk cargo per annum and maintaining more than 130,000sq m of warehousing space nationally.
It was previously part of Qube and Brookfield’s Patrick business and the ASX-listed Asciano group of companies before they were taken over in 2016.
At that time, a Brookfield consortium bought Linx, which was previously called Bulk & Automotive Port Services, from Asciano for $925m.
The company includes Linx, Autocare and C3, which specialises in forestry-aligned logistics and Pedersen forestry processing.
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