Australia's Westpac in talks to sell Hastings fund business

No financial terms were disclosed in a regulatory filing by Westpac. The sale is intended to provide a springboard for Charter Hill to enter new geographies and expand its service offering. Charter Hill launched in 19991 and now manages a portfolio of 314 commercial properties across Australia worth A$19 billion ($15 billion).

The sale would include all of Hastings’ global infrastructure real assets business, which has offices in Melbourne, Sydney, London, New York, Singapore and Seoul. Currently the firm has about 100 investment professionals managing around A$14.3 billion.

Hastings participated in several high-profile infrastructure privatizations in Australia, part of a pattern of state governments selling brownfield assets and recycling the revenue into new projects. The firm joined China Merchants Group in 2014 to secure a 98-year lease on the Port of Newcastle for A$1.75 billion, and led a consortium featuring Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) to pay A$10.3 billion for TransGrid, the New South Wales government electricity transmission network.

This is Westpac’s second attempt to sell Hastings in as many years. The bank initiated discussions last year but later withdrew from negotiations citing adverse market conditions.

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Trade sale
• Infrastructure
• Buyouts
• Australia
• Hastings Funds Management