regarding aurizon and growth - only a couple of months ago they along with macquarie group, flagged the wicet proposal - article below - it excited the share price - only to reverse when the ut5 ruling came out - interesting that the buyback stopped around this time too
the other thing that hit the news recently was some weird reporting regarding how environmental activists were going to target aurizon with protests if they got involved with the adjani mine -
so i'm thinking at the moment the aurizon price is driven by political agendas within the coal industry
will be interesting to see how aurizon/macqaurie appeal the ut5 - am sure a lot of lobbying will be going on behind the scenes
Aurizon, Macquarie spearhead $4 billion WICET restructure proposal
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Aurizon chief executive Andrew Harding has wasted no time mapping out a potential growth aveanue for his company. Robert Shakespeare
Anthony Macdonald
Joyce Moullakis
Australian coal carrier Aurizon and Macquarie Group have made an ambitious $4 billion joint bid to take control of the recently built Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal in Queensland, and its feeder coal mines.
Street Talk can reveal the consortium, which is also believed to include Canadian investor Brookfield, has put a proposal to WICET's board and a number of its shareholders, who are considering the coal terminal's future ahead of a debt deadline that could leave the company bankrupt.
The proposal would see Aurizon take control of WICET's port operations, while Macquarie and Brookfield would buy a number of the port's biggest contracted customers including mines owned by Glencore and Wesfarmers, to shore up their mining future.
It would also see WICET's senior lenders - together are owed $US2.7 billion ($3.5 billion) - repaid their loans at or close to par value, sources said.
The banks, including ANZ and NAB, may otherwise face some of the biggest writedowns in Australian corporate history, collectively worth more than $1 billion. The debt is due to be refinanced by September next year.
Sources close to the lenders said the deal was pitched as a "whole of basin" proposal, requiring a new equity owner (Aurizon), new debt (likely arranged by Macquarie), and new take or pay contracts with the port's customers. The port's biggest customers would become mines owned by Macquarie and Brookfield.
It's a complex proposal and a long way from a done deal, sources said.
The port's existing customers double as the equity owners. However, that equity is likely worthless because of take-or-pay contracts that see the miners pay more than $20 a tonne to use the port, which is about four-times what they would pay to use a neighbouring terminal at the Port of Gladstone. That tariff underpins the hefty debt stack.
Three of the eight customers have gone broke since the initial deal was signed, leaving the other five to pick up the slack.
The biggest customer/shareholder is Glencore, whose Rolleston mine accounted for more than one-third of WICET's 27 million tonnes a year contracted capacity when the deal was first done. It's now likely to be more than half.
It's understood Macquarie's consortium has held talks about buying the Rolleston mine, as part of the wider $4 billion proposal. The consortium is also believed to be seeking to buy Wesfarmers' Curragh mine,
which is already up for sale, along with mines owned by Aquila Resources, Yancoal and New Hope, and other potential targets in Queensland's Bowen Basin.
It's expected to be a financial play for Macquarie's Macquarie Capital division, and Brookfield.
It's more strategic for Aurizon which owns the rail network that carries coal into the port. However, buying a port would be a new direction for the $10.5 billion listed transport company.
WICET is one of eight main wharf centres at the Port of Gladstone in Queensland. It made its first coal shipment in 2015.
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