A Transurban-led consortium has won the auction to buy a 49 per cent stake in the Sydney WestConnex motorway project, outlaying more than $10bn for the remaining interest in the asset that it does not already own.
The Australian listed group is expected to launch a $4bn-plus equity raising to pay for the acquisition.
Other consortium members are the AustralianSuper and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
Working for Transurban are Barrenjoey Capital Partners, Morgan Stanley and UBS.
When Transurban and it’s backers purchased a 51 per cent stake in WestConnex in 2018 it paid $9.3bn for the 33km road project.
At that time it was split four ways, with Transurban paying $4.1bn for its half share of the 51 per cent WestConnex interest.
AustralianSuper and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board invested $1.7bn each for their respective 20.5 per cent holdings and ADIA $700m for 9 per cent. About $1.1bn of additional debt raised by the consortium rounded out the purchase price.
DataRoom understands that Transurban or its advisers have held meetings with investors to run over plans for an equity raising.
The raise is expected to be between $4bn and $5bn and include both a placement to one of its WestConnex bidding partners and a rights issue.
Transurban runs seven of the state’s nine toll road concessions and 15 of 19 nationwide, but is thought to have already received an indication from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission that it will gain clearance for this latest transaction.
The NSW government had opted to sell its remaining 49 per cent stake in the 33km motorway scheme in two tranches to create competitive tension in the auction.
Each 24.5 per cent interest on offer was expected to sell for at least $4bn.
Bids were due for the first tranche on Thursday September 9 in the process advised by Citi and RBC.
However, speculation had been mounting that the other competitors for the stake in the project, IFM and its Dutch partner APG, had fallen out of the contest.
The Transurban bidding consortium is known as Sydney Transport Partners.
Shares closed 13c higher to $14.18.
The outcome of the auction for the entire 49 per cent interest was expected to be known by this Tuesday, with the government to determine the winner of the first tranche of what was on offer by last Friday.
It comes after an IFM-led consortium was offered due diligence this month to buy Sydney Airport for $23.6bn.
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