The Macquarie Group Ltd. emblem on the firm’s headquarters in Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday, June 18, 2025.
Brent Lewin | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures
Australia’s Qube Holdings introduced on Monday that Macquarie Asset Administration had submitted a non-binding proposal to accumulate the logistics firm at an enterprise worth of 11.6 billion Australian {dollars} ($7.49 billion).
Macquarie has provided to purchase Qube for AU$5.2 per share in money, representing an almost 28% premium to Qube’s closing share worth of AU$4.07 on Friday.
Qube shares jumped 19.4% to shut at a record-high of AU$4.86 on Monday, in accordance with LSEG knowledge, whereas Macquarie Group, the dad or mum firm of the asset administration unit, noticed its shares dip as a lot as 0.31% to shut at AU$193.48.
The takeover bid adopted a interval of negotiations after a decrease unsolicited supply from Macquarie asset administration earlier, Qube stated in its submitting, with out specifying the precise worth of the earlier supply.
Qube share worth
The enterprise worth represents about 14.4 instances Qube’s earnings earlier than curiosity, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, for monetary 12 months 2025, in accordance with the submitting. Enterprise worth sometimes measures an organization’s whole worth, comprising its market capitalization and the fee to repay its debt, minus money.
Qube’s operations principally contain container leasing, automotive and grain cargo terminals and highway and rail transport providers.
The deal is topic to a “passable completion” of due diligence on Qube and its operations, last approval from each firms’ boards and regulatory approvals.
Qube stated it has entered into an exclusivity deed with Macquarie, throughout which the asset supervisor would have the chance to undertake due diligence till Feb. 1, 2026.
“We sit up for persevering with to interact constructively in one of the best pursuits of our shareholders,” Qube Chairman John Bevan stated within the submitting.
In an emailed response Monday, a spokesperson for Macquarie Asset Administration declined CNBC’s request for remark.
Macquarie Asset Administration at the moment manages nearly AU$960 billion in property globally throughout private and non-private markets with portfolio firms protecting infrastructure, actual property and agriculture sectors.
Following Qube’s announcement, Samuel Seow, vp and fairness analyst at Citi Financial institution, reaffirmed his “purchase” score on the corporate, with a goal worth of AU$4.9. Seow flagged potential draw back dangers comparable to worth competitors in Australian logistics market and industrial motion that will impression Qube’s workforce.
The Qube-Macquarie proposed transaction comes at a instances when the Australian logistics sector has seen heightened dealmaking exercise, with main gamers looking for to increase their attain within the nation.
DP World, which operates terminals and warehouses at ports throughout Australia, earlier this 12 months acquired Silk Logistics for AU$175 million, taking up its landside warehousing and wharf cartage transportation enterprise — operations that entails shifting items from ports to warehouses or different locations.
Lindsay Australia in Could acquired SRT Logistics, Tasmania’s largest refrigerated provide chain operator, for about $108 million, upping the ante in increasing its nationwide chilly chain footprint. That adopted the acquisition of GJ Freight earlier this 12 months as Lindsay seeks to increase its operations into Western Australia.
Individually, Australia’s BHP Group, the world’s largest miner, introduced Monday that it was abandoning its pursuit of British mining firm Anglo American, reversing its try at a reportedly $49 billion takeover of Anglo it initiated final 12 months.
