Good evening,

The two consortiums vying for homegrown data centre giant AirTrunk have secured investment committee approvals for their final offers, Street Talk can reveal. That ticks off the last item on checklists for bidders in the $20 billion-plus auction that’s expected to rewire sector valuations and generate career-defining deal credits for those involved.

Sources said dealmakers at IFM Investors and rival bidder Blackstone presented to their respective investment committees for approval last week and were given the go-ahead to lob offers by Tuesday’s deadline. It’s not unusual for smaller consortium partners to drop out ahead of binding bids, but on Sunday, both sides had their line-ups intact – Blackstone with CPPIB, and IFM-DigitalBridge with Global Infrastructure Partners, Abu Dhabi’s MGX, and California’s Silver Lake.

Come Tuesday, sell-side advisers Goldman Sachs and Macquarie Capital are expected to take the final offers to the sellers – Macquarie Asset Management and Canada’s PSP Investments – for approval, especially around any “conditions precedent” demanded by the bidders including FIRB approvals, financing consents and customer contracts.

Sources said AirTrunk could have a preferred bidder by late this week, with the chosen party expected to be offered a short spell of black-box due diligence before the two camps agree to exclusivity. AirTrunk’s lender syndicate has already consented to staying on with the new owners.

Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.

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Street Talk understands a fleet of parties has lobbed indicative offers including Allegro, Singaporean businessman Kim Hai Lim and specialist airline Skytraders.

The Australian sharemarket snapped a 10-session winning streak on Friday to inch lower in the final session of the week, as traders nervously awaited further clues to the outlook for global interest rates expected over the weekend.

Click here for the latest equity market wrap.