I wonder were this money will go ????Aussie funds to ditch UK...

I wonder were this money will go ????

Aussie funds to ditch UK assets
Danny Fortson and Ben Marlow
VAST swathes of British infrastructure, including the ports of Hartlepool and Immingham, have been put up for sale by troubled Australian backers Babcock & Brown and Macquarie in a desperate attempt to raise cash and pay down debts.

In the boom both investors were among the most aggressive buyers of infrastructure assets, but quickly became pariahs when the credit crisis hit. They have been forced to dump assets to meet refinancing payments and return money to angry shareholders.

Babcock & Brown has hired Dresdner Kleinwort to sell PD Ports, Britain’s second-largest ports group and operator of Hartlepool and Immingham docks, for at least £400m, including debt.

Several industry sources told The Sunday Times they have been approached in recent weeks by Macquarie offering an array of its assets. Macquarie funds control Thames Water, which is London’s monopoly supplier, Bristol airport and Condor Group, which runs the Isle of Wight ferry.

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Among the first to go, sources said, could be the M6 toll road.

The Macquarie fund that owns it last week sold half of its holding in a Sydney motorway and said that it will “continue to consider opportunities to realise value from its portfolio”.

Babcock’s shares have shed 97% in the past year, while Macquarie has lost two-thirds of its value.

Last week Macquarie said that its listed funds were focused on “closing the gap between current security prices and the value of the underlying businesses. These initiatives . . . may include major asset sales.”