Asciano recommends Brookfield bid

OREANDA-NEWS. Australian coal haulage and ports firm Asciano's board of directors has recommended an A\\$8.9bn (\\$6.55bn) takeover offer from Canadian infrastructure company Brookfield Infrastructure Partners.

Brookfield, which already owns the 85mn t/yr Dalrymple Bay coal terminal in Queensland, is offering A\\$9.15/share in cash and shares to take over Asciano, which operates coal rail haulage businesses in New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland.

Asciano hauled 162.8mn t of coal from Australian mines in the 2014-15 fiscal year ending 30 June, up from 159mn t the previous year. It has contracts for 180mn t of coal haulage for 2015-16, which is down from the 185mn t of contracted haulage it had for 2014-15. Asciano's coal contract utilisation rate in NSW was 87.5pc or 107.7mn t during 2014-15 and 89pc or 55.1mn t in Queensland.

Argus' current assessment for 6,000 kcal/kg NAR high-grade thermal coal has fallen to \\$60.62/t fob Newcastle from a high of \\$137/t in early 2011.