Baggage Trolleys worth a Mint !
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Baggage Trolleys worth a Mint !
NOT content with charging travellers for using its airports, Macquarie Bank is now going to collect a fee for carrying their luggage.
The acquisitive investment bank announced yesterday it would spend $370 million on buying the world's largest baggage cart company, Smarte Carte Corporation, which rents out trolleys, strollers and lockers at more than 1000 airports, train stations, bus terminals and shopping centres around the globe. Passengers at Sydney and Melbourne airports use its trolleys.
Smarte Carte is the fourth big deal Macquarie has been involved in over the past month. The others are a $3.6 billion cash offer for the London Stock Exchange, the acquisition of Taiwan's third biggest cable television network and investments in two Canadian healthcare projects. And they are just the deals the bank has announced.
It is understood Macquarie is also bidding for Morgan Stanley's aircraft leasing business, AWAS, which was set up 20 years ago as the leasing arm for failed airline Ansett, and for which bids of more than $2 billion are expected. Macquarie recently missed out on making the short-list for the multibillion-dollar upgrade of India's two biggest airports, Delhi and Mumbai. However, the Indian Government may extend its shortlist after criticism of the bidding process.
Macquarie said yesterday it would put $194 million of equity into Smarte Carte and fund the rest of the acquisition with debt. The asset will be held on its balance sheet for the time being but the bank is considering rolling it into a new Macquarie-managed fund.
Macquarie has more than $1.8 billion of assets sitting on its balance sheet that haven't been rolled into a fund. They include the Isle of Man ferry business, Chinese retail malls and a stake in a European phone directories business.
"This looks like a typical transaction for Macquarie," ABN Amro Asset Management's Mark Nathan said yesterday.
"The risk is that while it's on the balance sheet something happens - but these things don't tend to stay on the balance sheet for very long."
Smarte Carte is owned by private equity firm Black Diamond, which bought the company last year after its former parent filed for bankruptcy because of difficult operating conditions after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York.
At the time the company sought bankruptcy protection it was operationally profitable but had fallen behind on interest payments to lenders.
Macquarie's chief financial officer, Greg Ward, said Smarte Carte was a "well-established, geographically diversified business with high barriers to entry and stable cash flows".
He also said it could grow by targeting contracts with other airports around the world and by providing different services.
One of the bank's specialist funds, Macquarie Airports, has large investments in six major airports - Sydney, Brussels, Rome, Copenhagen, Birmingham and Bristol. The bank aims to maximise revenues at those airports by introducing more parking, retail and business facilities.
The acquisitive investment bank announced yesterday it would spend $370 million on buying the world's largest baggage cart company, Smarte Carte Corporation, which rents out trolleys, strollers and lockers at more than 1000 airports, train stations, bus terminals and shopping centres around the globe. Passengers at Sydney and Melbourne airports use its trolleys.
Smarte Carte is the fourth big deal Macquarie has been involved in over the past month. The others are a $3.6 billion cash offer for the London Stock Exchange, the acquisition of Taiwan's third biggest cable television network and investments in two Canadian healthcare projects. And they are just the deals the bank has announced.
It is understood Macquarie is also bidding for Morgan Stanley's aircraft leasing business, AWAS, which was set up 20 years ago as the leasing arm for failed airline Ansett, and for which bids of more than $2 billion are expected. Macquarie recently missed out on making the short-list for the multibillion-dollar upgrade of India's two biggest airports, Delhi and Mumbai. However, the Indian Government may extend its shortlist after criticism of the bidding process.
Macquarie said yesterday it would put $194 million of equity into Smarte Carte and fund the rest of the acquisition with debt. The asset will be held on its balance sheet for the time being but the bank is considering rolling it into a new Macquarie-managed fund.
Macquarie has more than $1.8 billion of assets sitting on its balance sheet that haven't been rolled into a fund. They include the Isle of Man ferry business, Chinese retail malls and a stake in a European phone directories business.
"This looks like a typical transaction for Macquarie," ABN Amro Asset Management's Mark Nathan said yesterday.
"The risk is that while it's on the balance sheet something happens - but these things don't tend to stay on the balance sheet for very long."
Smarte Carte is owned by private equity firm Black Diamond, which bought the company last year after its former parent filed for bankruptcy because of difficult operating conditions after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York.
At the time the company sought bankruptcy protection it was operationally profitable but had fallen behind on interest payments to lenders.
Macquarie's chief financial officer, Greg Ward, said Smarte Carte was a "well-established, geographically diversified business with high barriers to entry and stable cash flows".
He also said it could grow by targeting contracts with other airports around the world and by providing different services.
One of the bank's specialist funds, Macquarie Airports, has large investments in six major airports - Sydney, Brussels, Rome, Copenhagen, Birmingham and Bristol. The bank aims to maximise revenues at those airports by introducing more parking, retail and business facilities.
Man Bilong Balus long PNG
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Looking forward to returning to Japan soon but in the meantime continuing the never ending search for a bad bottle of Red!
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Re: Baggage Trolleys worth a Mint !
Tinny; Did you get the gold coin out of the lock first??
You only live twice. Once when
you're born. Once when
you've looked death in the face.
You only live twice. Once when
you're born. Once when
you've looked death in the face.
