Good evening,

There’ll be some tired infrastructure types in the coming week.

In Street Talk tonight, we have a look at the gruelling auction schedule that started on Friday, heats up on Monday with bids for a $2 billion stake in Ausgrid and will turn frantic in the coming seven days with bids for GeelongPort, Axicom and VicRoads’ modernisation project.

The bids cap a phenomenal year for Australian infrastructure deals and a turning point in the private capital v public capital debate.

Sydney Airport and AusNet headlined the recent activity, both picking up private capital buyers with bids worth a combined $50 billion, while private capital also called for Spark and Telstra and Optus’ mobile tower assets, Woodside Petroleum’s Pluto Train 2 development, dual-listed Tilt Renewables and Qube’s Moorebank.

Transurban’s deal to buy 49 per cent of WestConnex was the only real sign of public market strength, although even that bid was made with backing from private capital partners.

Elsewhere in Street Talk, we get updates on Tabcorp’s proposed lotteries spin-off and Woolworths’ run for API, while we’ve also spotted bankers sniffing around some strategic stakes in listed companies heading into the end of the year.

Happy reading,
Anthony Macdonald, Yolanda Redrup and Kanika Sood
Street Talk editors