Private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is understood to have bowed out of the competition to acquire the $2bn Moorebank logistics facility of Qube Holdings.
It leaves heavyweight property investors to battle it out for the operation in the contest being advised by investment bank UBS.
Dexus Property Group and ESR have been in the mix for the asset for some time, but DataRoom revealed last month that Charter Hall had entered the contest, while Blackstone and potentially Goodman Group are now in the final mix.
Bids for Moorebank are due late August, although some believe the sales process is taking on a more informal nature.
It is understood KKR has opted out of the competition after Qube changed tack and decided to sell all of Moorebank rather than a stake.
The buyout fund will now no doubt turn its attention to other attractive opportunities in the Australian market after this year it bought a stake in Colonial First State for $1.7bn from CBA.
Following a lease on the site struck with tenant Woolworths by Qube, the thinking is that what is on offer is more of a development play suited to real estate investors, who are said to remain active despite the challenging economic conditions.
The yet-to-be-completed Moorebank intermodal facility is the largest in the country, with the park covering 243ha.
It is being developed on a precinct comprising land owned by the commonwealth and adjacent to land owned by Qube.
Earlier expectations were that Moorebank could be worth about $2bn.
While Qube had the asset on the market earlier this year, it paused the sales process until it struck a partnership with Woolworths in June to base its NSW distribution centre at Moorebank.
Qube raised $500m of equity through Bank of America and UBS in April after its market value fell to about $3.9bn but it has since rebounded to about $5.9bn after the major COVID-19 disruptions.
An acquisition of a $1bn stake in the Ampol portfolio is also expected to be announced any day.
That transaction is expected to result in Ampol (formerly known as Caltex) launching a share buyback off market to utilise its franking credits.
The price on the transaction depends on the income that the petrol stations will generate for Charter Hall and both Ampol and the property developer are understood to be negotiating hard on both matters.
Charter Hall has been the frontrunner to buy the assets since 2018 and UBS is also working on that sale process.
Qube will release its full year results on August 25.
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