(15 August 2006 – Australia) Commonwealth Bank’s asset management division has beaten off Babcock & Brown to take over natural gas transmission company, GasNet Australia Trust.The deal is worth about A$418 million.
Gasnet said it would recommend the A$2.88 share offer from CBA’s Colonial First State Global Asset Management in the absence of a higher bid.
CBA saw off a joint bid from Babcock & Brown Infrastructure and Australian Pipeline Trust.
“We are attracted to GasNet’s high quality assets, stable cash flows and the transparent regulatory environment,” Colonial First State head of property and alternative investments James O’Leary said.
GasNet has a market capitalisation of about A$385 million. The company owns and maintains the transmission network in Victoria and services more than one million residential customers as well as 43,000 commercial users.