July 1 (Reuters) - A consortium led by the investment arm of...

July 1 (Reuters) - A consortium led by the investment arm of Macquarie (MQG) entered a A$7.9 billion ($5.43 billion) deal to run licensing and registration at the transport department in Australia's second-most populous state Victoria.

The consortium, which includes pension funds Australian Retirement Trust and Aware Super, will operate the businesses of Victoria state's roads customer service unit for 40 years, the state government said.

It added that it would maintain ownership of the unit, VicRoads, and continue to manage data, privacy provisions and essential fee prices.

VicRoads maintains the registers of more than 6 million vehicle operators and 5 million driver licence holders, including cars, motorcycles, heavy vehicles and boats.

"The consortium has the experience and capability to support VicRoads on its next stage of development by driving high standards of service delivery and customer experience," said Frank Kwok, head of Macquarie Asset Management's real assets business in Asia-Pacific.

The proposed deal is expected to close by mid-August, the consortium said in a statement.

Macquarie had earlier collaborated with one of Canada's largest public sector pension funds in 2017 for the rights to manage South Australia's lands titles registry and services unit in a 40-year privatisation. (https://reut.rs/3bI6uSL) ($1 = 1.4543 Australian dollars)