A consortium led by Macquarie Asset Management has signed a $7.9 billion $5.4 billion deal to privately run the car registries department of Australia's second-most populous state.
The Australian bank, together with Australian Retirement Trust and Aware Super, has signed a 40 year concession for VicRoads, the southern state of Victoria s roads customer service unit, the state premier s office announced Friday.
The premier s office said more than five million drivers are registered.
The group had been vying to win in an auction run by the state that had also included a pairing of Morrison Co and Brookfield Asset Management, as well as a third group, infrastructure investor Plenary Group and UK government services contractor Serco Group Plc.
The deal adds to a wave of infrastructure acquisitions by Australia's ballooning and increasingly private-investment minded pension industry. It also adds to Macquarie's control of state governments services Down Under after it paid A $1.6 billion along with Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board in 2017 for a 40 year contract to run South Australia's land titles registry.
The sale will seed a A $10 billion future fund for Victoria, and could prompt follow-on transactions, including in the smaller state of South Australia, which has also reportedly mulled a privatization of its unit.
Macquarie and its partners could net more than $200 million in management fees a year from acquisition, according to Matt Ingram and Jack Baxter, according to Bloomberg Intelligence spokesman Matt Ingram and Jack Baxter.
A Macquarie consortium win of the A $7.9 billion VicRoads service-delivery deal reflects Macquarie's diverse business and could result in double revenue benefit for the company, according to analysts.
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