The Carlyle Group's five-year stint on the share register of ports operator Qube Holdings looks to have been a fairly satisfying one, with the block trade of its remaining 9.5 per cent stake priced at $2.55 in a sell-off handled by Citigroup.
Infrastructure stocks are in vogue around the world as interest rates go inexorably lower and the price is almost double what Carlyle paid on the way in.
Street Talk first reported Citi had nabbed the $350 million block trade on Tuesday night.
The offer price was in line with the last traded price, and pegged at a 2.5 per cent discount to the five-day volume-weighted average price of $2.62.
Citi was sole bookrunner on the deal, marking its third block trade in the past month, and Reunion Capital Partners advised The Carlyle Group.
This column flagged the potential deal last week.
Carlyle Infrastructure Partners bought its initial shareholding in Qube at $1.275 a share in February 2011 and topped up its investment at $1.33 later that year.
In the past 12 months, Qube has gobbled up Asciano's ports business and Aurizon's stake in the proposed Moorebank Intermodal Terminal, tapped shareholders for $494 million in a rights issue and welcomed Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to its shareholder register.
Qube shares have been trading above $2 per share since March, allowing Carlyle to trim its holdings with a small series of sales in April, May and July this year. The stock rose sharply in July, hitting a 12-month high of $2.81 in early August.
The private equity investor's infrastructure boss, Robert Dove, sits on Qube's board, making him subject to trading windows. It's understood that the lodgement of Qube's subordinated notes offer prospectus on Tuesday created the opportunity for Dove to sell down.
The logistics group reported its annual results on August 24, with sales and earnings missing analysts' expectations. Group revenues dropped 9 per cent to $1.3 billion and underlying net profit slid 18 per cent to $86.5 million.
Elsewhere in equity capital markets, brokers have been pitching Genting Group on a potential block trade of its stake in Star Entertainment Group, as first reported by this column.
Genting, which controls Asia's second-biggest gaming company, Genting Singapore, and is owned by Malaysian gaming mogul KT Lim, holds a 6.6 per cent stake in Star Entertainment [the rebadged Echo Entertainment]. It has been approved to purchase up to 23 per cent.
