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- LOGOS has been bankrolled by a consortium of investors to purchase Australia’s largest logistics park for roughly $1.67 billion from Qube (QUB)
- LOGOS has teamed together with Ivanhoé Cambridge, AustralianSuper, TCorp (NSW Treasury Corporation), and AXA IM Alts to purchase the site
- The consortium is set to pay $1.36 billion on the financial close of the property and another $312 million deferred, subject to completion adjustments
- Qube expects the remaining capital expenditure obligations at MLP to be in the $200-$300 million range
- QUB shares are down 0.95 per cent to $3.14 at 3:38 pm AEST
LOGOS has been bankrolled by a consortium of investors to purchase Australia’s largest logistics park for roughly $1.67 billion from Qube (QUB).
Moorebank Logistics Park (MLP) in southwest Sydney includes approximately 243 hectares of land and is Australia’s largest intermodal freight facility.
LOGOS has teamed together with longstanding partners Ivanhoé Cambridge, AustralianSuper, and TCorp (NSW Treasury Corporation), as well as a new partner, AXA IM Alts, with LOGOS to be MLP’s investment and development manager.
The sale comes six months after LOGOS won an auction for the site, entering exclusive talks with Qube.
The purchase price is before tax, transaction costs and other adjustments, with the consortium to pay $1.36 billion on financial close of the property and another $312 million deferred, subject to completion adjustments.
The consortium envisions a “fundamental shift in east coast logistics, as a fully automated port-to-site rail link”.
“The high levels of automation across the intermodals and warehousing will drive significant long-term cost advantages and improve supply chain predictability which will offer important labour efficiency and stock availability,” the consortium said.
Qube plans to use the roughly $1.35 billion in gross pre-tax proceeds to reduce debt, pursue growth opportunities and for capital management initiatives.
The company said the sale will avoid the need for it to deploy substantial capital to develop future warehousing and claimed the deal as a win for all parties.
“We believe that the transaction with the LOGOS consortium allows Qube to realise a strong value for the MLP Property Assets, de-risks delivering the leasing and development of future warehouses and significantly reduces Qube’s ongoing capex requirements,” Quebe managing director Paul Digney said.
“Further, the transaction positions Qube strongly to focus on growing its core logistics business, while retaining exposure to long-term growth in container volumes at MLP through terminal and logistics activities.”
LOGOS forecast MLP to be worth $4.2 billion once the site is fully developed.
The acquisition has increased LOGOS Australia and New Zealand assets under management to $11.5 billion.
Qube expects the remaining capital expenditure obligations at MLP to be in the $200-$300 million range.
The completion of the IMEX automation and stage one of the Interstate Terminal account for the majority of this expense. The Interstate Terminal’s stage two will be built subject to future demand.
Qube said their investment in automation at the IMEX is several years ahead of what is likely required, which as a result, will mean the high fixed costs associated with automation are not expected to be recovered in the short term.
Qube has invested approximately $305 million on the IMEX Terminal and expects to spend an additional $80 million to complete the automation.
LOGOS head of Australia and New Zealand Darren Searle said that by 2030, MLP is aiming to reduce Sydney and interstate truck travel by 243,000km per day, and lower carbon emissions by the equivalent of removing 11,000 vehicles from the road for a full year.
The consortium said it plans to deploy the largest array of rooftop solar panels on a single site in Australia alongside green buffers, biodiversity offsets and elements of site design and layout that will reduce the heat emissions from the site.
The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the year and is subject to various approvals, including the consent of Moorebank Intermodal Company and FIRB.
QUB shares are down 0.95 per cent to $3.14 at 3:38 pm AEST.
