Brookfield Infrastructure purchases minority stake in Asciano

The infrastructure arm of Brookfield Asset Management has acquired a near 15 percent share in Patrick Stevedoring parent Asciano Limited and still plans to make a majority takeover bid for the Australian transportation company.

   Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P., the infrastructure investment arm of Brookfield Asset Management, has purchased a minority stake in Patrick Stevedoring parent company Asciano Limited via an Australian subsidiary, according to a statement from the firm.
   Through a series of off-market share purchases following the close of trading on the Australian Securities Exchange, Brookfield Infrastructure has acquired an approximate 14.9 percent interest (around 188 million shares) in the Australian transportation company. Brookfield said the firm “has also entered into arrangements giving it economic interests in a further approximately 4.3% of Asciano,” and it still plans to attempt to acquire a majority share of the company, but will do so via a majority takeover bid rather than the scheme of arrangement announced in August.
   The company said it paid a total of $1.2 billion for the acquired stake in Asciano.
   The announcement came just one week after a rival group led by Australian logistics company Qube Holdings Ltd. acquired a nearly 20 percent stake in Asciano and indicated it would vote against the Brookfield-led takeover offer, according to the Wall Street Journal.
   Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, Asciano’s business comprises container terminal operations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth that have a capacity of approximately 4.9 million TEUs; port, terminal and supply chain services that support importers, exporters, ocean carriers, freight forwarders and customs brokers; and nationwide rail operations, including fleet assets of 664 locomotives and over 14,000 wagons, offering mineral and bulk haulage, steel and intermodal service.
   The company is segmented into four major businesses units: Pacific National Coal, Pacific National Rail, Terminals & Logistics, and Bulk & Automotive Port Services.
   Meanwhile, Toronto, Canada-based Brookfield Infrastructure reported a 70.8 percent year-over-year increase in net profits for the third quarter of 2015, according to the company’s most recent financial statements. The company posted a net profit of $123 million for the quarter compared to $72 million in the third quarter of 2014.
   Net earnings per share grew 58.6 percent, from $0.29 per share in Q3 2014 to $0.46 per share in Q3 2015.
    The company attributed the increase in net income primarily to higher earnings generated from operations and a gain on the sale of its New England electricity transmission operations, which were partially offset by depreciation from recently acquired operations.
   “The culmination of many quarters of business development efforts resulted in reaching agreement on several exciting transactions during the quarter. Our ability to access significant amounts of capital earlier in the year provided the capacity to move quickly to secure these opportunities,” Brookfield Infrastructure CEO Sam Pollock said of the results. “For the balance of the year, our focus is to advance these initiatives towards completion and we expect they will meaningfully contribute to our cash flows in 2016.”