A consortium of global asset management firm KKR and Skip Capital, the family office of Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar and his wife Kim Jackson, has won the auction process for a majority stake in Queensland Airports Limited (QAL) which is valued at around $3 billion.
QAL owns the Gold Coast, Townsville, Mount Isa and Longreach airports.
The vendors in the sale, State Super of NSW; The Infrastructure Fund, which is managed by Macquarie Asset Management; and superannuation fund Australian Retirement Trust (ART), are believed to have achieved around a 24x multiple on their investments which represented a 74.25% stake.
The remaining 25.75% is held by Perth-based private company Perron Group.
The sale is the largest in the air services sector in Australia since Sydney Airport Corporation was taken private for $23.6 billion in March 2022 by a consortium of UniSuper, IFM Investors, QSuper (now part of ART), Australian Super and US-based Global Infrastructure Partners.
KKR will house its QAL stake in its Asia Infrastructure Investors II Fund while Skip, which is led by Kim Jackson who spent more than 13 years as an infrastructure fund manager with Hastings Fund Management, will add its investment to its Skip Essential Infrastructure Fund.
KKR managing director and head of Australia and New Zealand Infrastructure Andrew Jennings said: “Our investment in Queensland Airports is a unique opportunity to acquire a high-quality asset that provides critical services in a resilient market with strong macro tailwinds.
“Queensland Airports plays an important role in connecting Queensland communities to the rest of Australia and beyond.”
Kim Jackson said: “Alongside delivering critical transport into one of Australia’s highest growth corridors of the Gold Coast, we are excited about our plans to lift the airport’s offering for residents and tourists and drive energy innovation across the group.”
All three of the exiting institutional investors are expected to recycle their returns into less mature infrastructure opportunities.
ART head of global real assets Michael Weaver said: “As an institutional investor, we’re always looking for opportunities to deliver the best possible outcomes for our members and the timing of this sale, alongside other investors, supports that goal. This process has formed part of our broader strategy to manage our portfolio, and we’re pleased with the outcome. Our capital helped support this investment to grow over many years, but we now look forward to new investors coming in and managing these assets as they enter a new phase.”
QAL said the departing shareholders had made significant investments in the airports, expanding capacity and improving customer experience.
At Gold Coast Airport, over the past five years, more than $500 million had been invested including the southern terminal expansion in 2022, to double its footprint, and the addition of retail outlets, six new gates, new border control facilities and four aerobridges. A record 5.6 million passengers used the airport over the last year. Further improvements and expansion are planned under the Gold Coast Airport Master Plan which is currently at the approval stage.
Macquarie Capital and Barrenjoey acted as joint financial advisers to the exiting shareholders.
Image: Gold Coast Airport has been the focus of more than $500 million in investment over the last five years.