BrisConnections puts its AirportlinkM7 toll road up for sale

Bankrupt Australian highway management firm BrisConnections is selling its 6.7km AirportlinkM7 toll road in Brisbane three years after the highway opened, according to a report by the Financial Review. Macquarie Capital and Fort Street are acting as financial advisers and PBB Advisory is the receiver. Transurban, which paid A$7.05 billion for Brisbane's five other toll roads last year, is seen as the likeliest buyer, with indicative bidding starting early this month for closure of a deal early next year, ac

Finance & Funding / September 1, 2015

Bankrupt Australian highway management firm 2641 BrisConnections is selling its 6.7km AirportlinkM7 toll road in Brisbane three years after the highway opened, according to a report by the Financial Review.

2378 Macquarie Capital and Fort Street are acting as financial advisers and PBB Advisory is the receiver. 891 Transurban, which paid A$7.05 billion for Brisbane's five other toll roads last year, is seen as the likeliest buyer, with indicative bidding starting early this month for closure of a deal early next year, according to the Review’s report.

BrisConnect, which went into receivership February 2013 with A$3 billion in debt, suffered when the number of toll-paying users for the Airport Link were less than half the predicted numbers.

Last April the Review reported that BrisConnections’s largest lender, Macquarie Group, did a volte face and gave the nod to auctioning off the road. Macquarie owns just over one-third of BrisConnections’s A$3.6 billion debt. Other lenders include ANZ Banking Group, Belgium's KBC, United Overseas Bank and UniCredit Group.

Other toll road owners and operators that could be interested include IFM Investors, Spain's Abertis Infraestructuras and Hastings Funds Management, the Review reported.

World Highways published a full review of the design and construction of the controversial asset in April 2013 and is viewable by <%$Linker:2Internal<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary />2126550oLinkExternalclicking hereClick here view Airport engineering successfalse/sections/key-projects/features/brisbanes-new-airport-link-is-an-engineering-success/falsefalse%>.