Logos tipped to throw in towel as suitors circle Qube logistics site

Qube is expected to sell between 50 and 75 per cent of the Moorebank intermodal park’s land trust and warehouse trust, worth $2bn, with Qube to retain the terminals trust.

Property group Logos is expected to exit the contest for Qube’s $2bn Moorebank logistics park when parties are shortlisted next week.

Charter Hall, Blackstone, Dexus Property Group, Logos Group, ESR, which is backed by Warburg Pincus, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts were all thought to be in the mix, but KKR is now understood to be out of the competition.

Some also suspect Logos Group will be next to leave, with questions about where it might find the funding for the acquisition. Others are also not so sure ESR will be among the final parties because of funding reasons. The competition has been run by investment bank UBS and is in the second round.

However, one twist in the contest is that the Swiss bank’s head of Australian real estate, Tim Church, has now jumped ship to Morgan Stanley, where he will be chairman in Australia, so it will be interesting to see how things progress.

Most expect Qube to sell between 50 and 75 per cent of the logistics park’s land trust and warehouse trust, worth $2bn, with Qube to retain the terminals trust.

Logos has more than six million square metres of property owned and under development, with a completed value of $10bn across 20 ventures. Its shareholders include ARA Asset Management, which has $S88bn in assets under management, and Canadian real estate firm Ivanhoe Cambridge.

The yet-to-be-completed Moorebank intermodal facility, in southwest Sydney, 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. It counts Woolworths as a key tenant.