ex beppa holders, page-22

(August 2010..... Coincidentally Duet has returned to profit and has a 29% stake in a $475m asset in the US for sale at the same time, (29% 0f 475m is 137m). It is all so coincidental and bank friendly. Here is another coincidence, it is in line with what I was suggesting as the BBIG PIG barbecue was happenning, and it has taken until Duet returned to profit to initiate it.) Same Dance, different partner..... not enough upside for BAM to be interested, especially with 518m debt falling due, so given as the sour sweetener to appease the idealists amongst the 37c/$ Beppa holders.

Also, I think that the new investors BAM brought with them would like their shares to trade higher than circa AUD3.80 on some little foreign stock exchange so getting rid of PIH.ax and lumping into BIP.nyse at circa USD17.00 would do that for them and make their portfolios look better. Also an excuse/opportunity to buy as many as become available, the remaining assets (NAV 5.08 + estimated 20% at Nov09) at ~4.60 sounds appealing..

ifandwhen trying not to be cynical.....

back to the news.........

Prime time duet sings a new tune

* CITY BEAT: Michael Bennet
* From: The Australian
* August 24, 2010 12:00AM



BROOKFIELD Infrastructure Partners' deal to mop up the 60 per cent of Prime Infrastructure it doesn't own may have made news yesterday.

But another scenario involving DUET Group buying other Prime assets has been cooked up by UBS. Brookfield Asset Management has the mandate to sell Prime's portfolio of local energy transmission and distribution assets, termed AET&D, as part of the restructure from Babcock & Brown Infrastructure into Prime last year.

DUET has pre-emptive rights over potential sales of the assets it also has stakes in -- including Multinet Group Holdings and WA Gas Networks -- which have been quarantined from the rest of Prime's portfolio. UBS's David Leitch reckons Prime's lenders, including ANZ, Westpac and CBA, hold the key to individual sales, as Prime's stakes are held with debt leveraged against the assets equity. He says the "spiderweb" of banks could be willing to sell off the assets individually because the same lenders could also be lenders at the asset level. "We believe DUET is looking to participate in various Australian utility asset acquisitions; the most obvious candidates being Brookfield's disposal of former BBI assets," he says. Other analysts, like Deutsche's John Hirjee and Citi's Marie Miyashiro, remain more concerned DUET may need to raise equity should it fail to sell its 29 per cent stake in US utility Duquesne Light, valued at about $475m.