Narrowing field for Brisbane sale

There are just two bids left for the port of Brisbane and its 10 million tonne coal facility, as investors Infratil and HRL Morrison have now dropped out.

This leaves the Morgan Stanley and UniSuper Infrastructure Partners bid in the ring along with a group made up of Global Infrastructure Partners, the state-owned Queensland Investment Corporation and Macquarie Bank.

The somewhat controversial Brisbane port sale is part of a package of state assets being sold by the Queensland government. The government also plans to lease the Abbot Point Coal Terminal as well as floating its rail freight business - QR National - on the stock exchange by the end of the year.

Until recently there was a AU$ 5.2bn (US$4,85bn) offer on the table from the Bowen Basin coal producers to buy the state-owned main coal haulage lines – which are also part of the rail network - but it seems that the miner's offer did not progress as well as hoped.
(Source:www.portstrategy.com)