Ann: Half Year Investor Presentation, page-7

DataRoom reported in October last year that there was speculation mounting about a looming sale process for its half share in the terminals operator Patrick, with promotional material about the business in the market.

Patrick, an Australian seaport operator with operations in Brisbane, Fremantle, Melbourne and Sydney, was previously listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

****Qube has the pre-emptive right to buy the remaining half in Patrick that it does not already own.***

Qube had told analysts it was looking at opportunities that provided scale and scope.Brookfield has owned the share of Patrick since 2017 and it comes at a time that the fund where the business is held is nearing the end of its life.

One market expert said that Qube would be keen to own Patrick but Brookfield would want a premium for the asset.

Qube could use the money it has for acquisitions elsewhere, namely a purchase of the industry’s second largest intermodal rail company behind Pacific National, SCT Logistics.

But one analyst questioned what Qube would gain by owning all of Patrick Terminals and said they believed they were better off embarking on bolt-on acquisitions.

During the 2021 financial year, Qube spent about $80m on acquisitions.

If it found opportunities that generate $20m of annual EBITDA, where the company is paying about five times that number, that would be beneficial to the business.


(All fair points)