It's all hands on deck after Australia Day and investment banks are bunkering down on the Endeavour Energy auction.
Street Talk understands Morgan Stanley has been called on to undertake some work for the QIC Ltd bidding group. They are seeking to boost their credentials and draw on the bank's experience in local privatisations.
QIC has teamed with Canada's Borealis Infrastructure and AMP Capital, while Credit Suisse and HSBC are tending to the consortium.
NSW wants to sell a 50.4 per cent stake in the network company, which is expected to be worth about $4 billion.
The state government's advisers Deutsche Bank and UBS are seeking indicative bids by mid February, as revealed by this column.
Goldman Sachs is said to be on the front foot assisting State Grid Corporation of China with the task of finding local equity, which is required for it to make an Endeavour tilt. No single foreign investor will be permitted to buy more than half of the 50.4 per cent stake, under guidelines provided by the Foreign Investment Review Board.
Local firm Hastings is bidding as part of the TransGrid consortium while Macquarie's infrastructure and real assets unit is lining up with British Columbia Investment Management Corporation.
Bidders and their advisers are also quietly confident the federal government's newly announced Critical Infrastructure Centre won't impinge on the Endeavour sale, given the FIRB has outlined its position on local participation.
The government wants to give foreign companies and entities more clarity on investing in Australia after the knock-back of the sale of a stake in Ausgrid to Asian bidders including State Grid last year.
Endeavour has close to 1 million customers in NSW.
