QUBE'S raid on ports and rail group Asciano has received the blessing of influential farm lobby groups who had bristled at the prospect of Canada's Brookfield Infrastructure Partners snaring Asciano in a $8.9 billion takeover.
So fierce was the farmer backlash against Brookfield, particularly in Western Australia, that their concerns about a long-running and bitter dispute over rail access fees hit the national stage and found some support from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Farmer co-operative CBH Group, which is also the nation's biggest grain exporter, held grave fears about allowing Brookfield to vertically integrate and own "below and above" rail assets, as well as port infrastructure.
NSW Farmers grains spokesman Dan Cooper, who voiced concerns over the Brookfield deal because of the company's behaviour in the Western Australian rail dispute, said at first glance he didn't think farmers would have a problem with the Qube consortium.
"Qube doesn't have the reputation that Brookfield has," Mr Cooper said on Sunday.
West Australian Farmers grains spokesman Duncan Young said it was too early to determine if the Qube deal would be good for growers but his initial reaction was that it appeared to be OK.
One of the backers of the Qube raid, Global Infrastructure Partners, is making a return seven years after it was part of an original takeover bid with private equity firm TPG in 2008 when Asciano was crippled by heavy debt levels in the midst of the GFC.
The US-based GIP is funding a substantial portion of the $1.7 billion acquisition of the 19.99 per stake which Chris Corrigan's Qube, GIP and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board have bought to block Brookfield's bid.
That deal was to have been voted on by Asciano shareholders at a November 10 meeting.
Break-up plan
Under Qube's rival break-up plan, GIP and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board would take control of the Pacific National rail business, while Qube covets the Patrick containers terminals operations.
Qube intends building a $1.5 billion intermodal freight terminal in conjunction with the rail group Aurizon in the south-western western Sydney suburb of Moorebank after gaining approval from the Federal Government in mid-2015. Qube says it will make transport more efficient and ease congestion on Sydney's roads.
An influential fund manager, Perpetual's head of equities Paul Skamvougeras, also sees merit in the plan to break up the Asciano business and for Qube to snare the Patrick ports terminals.
"Asciano's port assets are a good strategic fit for Qube and will help underwrite the success of the Moorebank intermodal investment," Mr Skamvougeras said on Sunday.
It is the second time GIP has been involved in a tilt at Asciano. GIP, which now oversees US$15 billion of investments in energy, transport and water assets, was eyeing the coal haulage assets owned by Asciano in its 2008 takeover proposal in conjunction with TPG, pitched at $4.40 per share. The Asciano board rejected the unsolicited proposal at the time.
GIP bolstered its Australian arm in June this year when the former chief executive officer of Credit Suisse Australia, Rob Stewart, was appointed a managing partner of the local unit as it stepped up its hunt for Australian assets.
When the original TPG/GIP buyout offer was made in 2008, it was rejected by the Asciano board which over a tortuous next few months fielded other buyout offers and eventually opted for an emergency $2 billion-plus capital-raising in 2009 to shore up its balance sheet which was crippled by $5 billion in debt at a time when credit markets froze.
Brookfield is understood to still be weighing up the implications of the blocking stake and whether there is any point in proceeding with the November 10 meeting because the Qube consortium has a big enough stake to block the deal.
Patrick Corporation was acquired by Toll Holdings in 2006 for $6.2 billion after a bruising eight-month takeover battle and then Toll in mid-2007 de-merged the ports and shipping container operations and the Pacific National Rail business into a separate company listed on the ASX, naming it Asciano after a small village in Tuscany in Italy which was a favourite spot of Asciano's first chief executive, Mark Rowsthorn.
