Brookfield preps sale of Asciano bulk transport spin-off; Azure hired
Brookfield is testing buyer appetite for Australia and New Zealand logistics business Linx Cargo Care Group, seven years after it birthed the business out of Asciano’s $9 billion take-private.
Brookfield’s Linx owned half of GeelongPort, which was acquired earlier this year.
Street Talk can reveal the Canadian infrastructure bigwig has mandated Azure Capital to prepare an auction for Linx’s Australian business, while Cameron Partners is leading the charge in New Zealand.
It’s early days, with no bid timetable or documents in front of investors yet. But sources said Brookfield was likely to sell Linx as a whole business, instead of carving out individual units.
The group has four main divisions: bulk good business Linx, vehicles transporter Autocare, forestry services unit C3, and Pedersen Group whose expertise is in paper and pulp.
It was born out of a nine-month takeover battle for then ASX-listed logistics player Asciano, which ended with rival bidders Brookfield and Qube lobbing the winning $9 billion bid together.
As a part of the takeover, Asciano was effectively broken up into two separate units: ports, rails, and bulk and automotive parts unit. The last, BAPS, which cost about $925 million grew into Linx. Brookfield owns about 70 per cent.
In the seven years since, the business has gone through a couple of changes. It acquired the paper specialist Pedersen Group in 2018, while Autocare restructured its debt via an administration in 2021.
Linx also owned half of GeelongPort, which was bought by Stonepeak, the infrastructure investor based in the United States, and local superannuation fund Spirit Super earlier this year. Linx moves about 22 tonnes worth of bulk cargo annually and pitches itself as a full-suite
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