This time Basslink is a looming train wreck. The company owes its banks about $650 million, its shareholder Singapore’s Keppel Infrastructure Trust is believed to be reluctant to make a required equity injection, and there’s a contract counterparty in Tasmania that is not happy with the situation.
APA Group looms as a potential white knight. Of all the sharp-nosed types circling Basslink, it’s looking like a pretty reliable and even trustworthy potential owner.
The question, though, is how much it really wants it. APA Group was in Basslink’s auction last time around, in 2007, when it was outbid by Singapore’s CitySpring Infrastructure Trust, which later merged with Keppel.
Plenty has changed at APA Group since, and it’s no secret that it’s keen to make a big move in the United States. Still, should it get Basslink, it would tie off some long-held plans. And what better time to do it than in an M&A bull market with a distressed counterparty.
Gas infrastructure investor APA Group looms as a white knight for Tasmania and mainland Australia’s electricity markets, with the group positioning for the debt-riddled Basslink Interconnector.
The Queensland-based Pradella family has put a portfolio of six over-50s housing estates on the block, fuelling expectations of a $200 million-odd deal.
Australian insurance distributor Greenstone’s capital structure review is understood to be coming to a head, with the company and its bankers finalising terms with an incoming investor.
