AustralianSuper lands 20 per cent stake in cash-hungry Perth Airport in Utilities Trust of Australia sale

Giant industry fund AustralianSuper is set to become the third biggest shareholder in Perth Airport in a $500 million sale that clears the way for more deals. AustralianSuper is set to quadruple its Perth Airport holding 20 per cent as the airport’s long-time major shareholder Utilities Trust of Australia is under pressure from its institutional backers demanding higher returns. The Macquarie-managed The Infrastructure Fund has also been trying to offload its 7.2 per cent stake in Perth Airport as it faces redemption requests from superannuation funds and other institutional investors. With more than $340 billion under management and a multi-decade investment profile, AustralianSuper is hungry for airports and keen to flex its financial muscle in big-ticket plays. Perth Airport will be hungry for capital as its embarks on $5b of that features new carparks, a $3b new Qantas terminal and a third runway to cope with booming traffic. Perth Airport has not released financial information for 2024, but it last year had $2.4 billion of debt and posted a net profit of $110m for 2022-23. Interest bills and currency hedging are major factors in its earnings. The debt-driven infrastructure industry has faced renewed investor scrutiny and portfolio adjustment by fund managers over the past two years as surging interest rates ate into what were once easy profits. Utilities Trust of Australia is expected to reduce its holding in Perth Airport to about one-third by selling a 15 per cent stake to AustralianSuper. Barring any further sales by shareholders or equity raisings by Perth Airport, the Federal Future Fund will remain the second biggest shareholder with a 30 per cent stake. Industry super fund Australian Retirement Trust, which has around $300b under management, was also flagged earlier this year as a potential seller of its 2 per cent stake as part of a portfolio tweak. But any pressure on the $300b Brisbane-based super fund to reduce its stake in Perth Airport dissipated last week — and it could just as likely be a buyer in any further share sales or capital raising linked to the WA gateway. Australian Retirement Trust, The Infrastructure Fund and State Super last week sold combined 74.25 per cent in Queensland Airports for $3 billion. Private equity major KKR and Scott Farquhar’s Skip Essential Airport Fund bought the Gold Coast and Townsville operator in a deal touted as showing a renewed hunger for runways and terminals among a new generation of investors. AustralianSuper had belatedly dipped out of the Queensland Airports sales process and reportedly turned its attention to grabbing part of Utilities Trust’s holding in Perth Airport. Neither Perth Airport management, AustralianSuper nor Utilities Trust manager Morrison would comment on the share sale. Utilities Trust also owns water, data centre and power assets, including a 20 per cent stake in the Transgrid transmission network that runs electricity between Victoria and Queensland. Morrison gained control of Utilities Trust in 2017 after investors voted to oust long-time manager Hastings, which bought into Perth Airport in the Federal Government privatisation 20 years earlier.

AustralianSuper lands 20 per cent stake in cash-hungry Perth Airport in Utilities Trust of Australia sale

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