Port of Melbourne sale potentially worth billions
Following the successful sale of the Port of Newcastle, which netted the New South Wales State Government A$1.75 billion (US$1.6 billion), Asian port operators and a range of wealth and superannuation funds are eyeing up a forthcoming sale of the Port of Melbourne, reports the Australian Financial Review (AFR).
The port, slated for sale by the Victorian State Government before the November State Election, has been valued upwards of $5.0 billion (US$4.6 billion).
According to the AFR, Asian port holding companies such as China Merchants and Hong Kong's Hutchison Port Holdings have expressed keen interest in the asset privatisation, with both companies possibly partnering with a domestic company to form a consortium.
China Merchants is one of the companies making up the consortium which won the bid for the Port of Newcastle in early May. Hutchison Ports, meanwhile, has recently entered into the Australian ports market by winning operating contracts at the Port of Brisbane in Queensland, as well as Sydney's Port Botany in New South Wales.
Hutchison Ports had also made a high-profile bid for an operating contract at the Port of Melbourne, but lost to the Victorian International Container Terminal consortium.