SYDNEY: A consortium including Australia’s sovereign-wealth fund and wholesale fund manager QIC has agreed to pay more than US$7.3 billion for a long-term lease on the Port of Melbourne—the country’s largest container port—in the latest infrastructure deal aimed at replenishing the coffers of state governments hit by a slowdown in mining revenue.
The government of Victoria state said Monday that the Lonsdale Consortium, which also includes Global Infrastructure Partners LLC and Canadian pension fund Omers, has acquired a 50-year commercial lease on the port, which is visited by more than 3,000 ships each year. The Victorian government wants to use part of the funds from the sale to invest in regional and rural transport, energy and irrigation projects, which it says will create thousands of jobs. The consortium said it would invest “substantial capital” to expand the capacity of the port.
