Morrison is pleased to advise that Utilities Trust of Australia (‘UTA’) has today executed a binding agreement for the sale of UTA's 19.23% interest in Interlink Roads Pty Ltd (‘Interlink’) to the Transurban Group (‘Transurban’) for a purchase price of A$260 million.
Assuming a settlement date of 30 September 2019, the since inception annualised return for UTA on its investment in Interlink would be 20.3%.
UTA has held the investment in Interlink since 1998. Completion of the transaction is conditional on receipt of necessary third party approvals from NSW Roads and Maritime Services (RMS), and senior lenders to Interlink. Securing of these third party approvals is expected to occur during Q3 2019. In advance of the parties signing the sale agreement, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission confirmed it does not intend to conduct a public review of the proposed acquisition.
About Interlink
Interlink operates and maintains the M5 South West Motorway, which is the key link connecting the M7 in Sydney’s growing south western region to the regional economic and employment centres of Bankstown, Liverpool and the Port Botany/Sydney Airport precinct, as well as Sydney’s CBD via the M5 East. The M5 South West widening was completed in December 2014, increasing the lanes from two to three across most of its length and extending the concession end date from August 2023 to December 2026. At the end of the lease, the M5 South West motorway is handed back to RMS and becomes part of the New M5 concession incorporated into the WestConnex Project, in which Transurban is a 25.5% equity holder.
About UTA
UTA is an open-ended core infrastructure fund for institutional investors with over A$6 billion in assets under management, including invested capital and undrawn commitments as at 30 June 2019. The fund has a globally diversified portfolio of quality, inflation-protected assets and a track record of generating strong returns with low volatility over time. Since inception in 1994, the fund has delivered a net return of 11.11% per annum across 25 years to 30 June 2019. The open-ended nature of the fund allows the UTA Trustee to take a long-term view and Morrison & Co to actively manage the assets to enhance value over time. For more information visit https://www.uta.com.au/