Qube Holdings eyeing $500m raising

Logistics group Qube Holdings is the latest to eye a capital raising. Picture: Toby Zerna

The Australian listed logistics and infrastructure operator Qube Holdings is expected to be one of the next companies to head to the market to raise equity, with a cash call of about $500m tipped to be on the cards.

Bank of America and UBS are understood to be working on the raise for the group that has seen its market value fall to about $3.6bn from a peak this year of about $5.9bn at a time that many companies are suffering deeply from the COVID-19 disruptions.

Australian listed companies have so far tapped the market for more than $10bn since March as they attempt to shore up balance sheets when a limited amount of cash is coming through the door due to the global shut down of services to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Last week, Ramsay Health Care pulled off the largest raising of the year, securing $1.4bn from investors through a placement and Share Purchase Plan in a deal that proved to be strongly taken up by investors.

Other groups said to be searching for funds include Lendlease, which counts Morgan Stanley as an adviser, and Challenger, which is thought to have been considering an equity raising worth about $500m through Macquarie Capital and Goldman Sachs.

Helping to fuel the rush to the market has been the temporary change to rules surrounding placements, where a company can now raise 25 per cent of their market value rather than the previous limit of 15 per cent.

Placements settle over a shorter time frame than entitlement offers for equity raisings, which means investment banks are more prepared to underwrite the transactions because they can more easily price the risk in an uncertain environment.

At December, Qube had a net debt of $1.574bn, with net assets of $2.81bn and $552m of cash and undrawn facilities.

Earlier, Qube had been working to sell its Moorebank Logistics Park in Sydney through investment bank UBS in a move that was expected to raise around $2bn for the group.

However, moving forward with a sale remains challenging for suitors due to an uncertain economic outlook and at a time when funding remains expensive or difficult to obtain, and on-the-ground due diligence is impossible for a company looking from overseas amid the COVID-19 travel restrictions.

While some say a listed spin-off could be considered, most believe a private sale was to be the most likely outcome.

The yet-to-be-completed Moorebank intermodal facility is the largest in the country, with the park covering 243ha, and had attracted interest from suitors including Dexus Property Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and ESR, which had all been short-listed, while Goodman Group and Charter Hall were also interested.

It is being developed on a precinct comprising land owned by the commonwealth and adjacent to land owned by Qube.

Earlier this month, Qube withdraw its earnings guidance and said the coronavirus crisis had only a limited impact on its core business, although the company said it was preparing for the impact of the nation’s economic slowdown across its operations.

While its bulk shipping business has been largely unaffected by the crisis, the container terminal volumes – including its Patricks port handling business – had fallen.

Qube said it had deferred non-essential capital spending.