(Repeats story published on Tuesday, no change to text)
By Sharon Klyne and Carol Zhong
SYDNEY, March 29 (Reuters) - Australia's Qube Holdings Ltd
QUB.AX and Canada's Brookfield Asset Management Inc BAMa.TO
are raising a A$1 billion ($753 million) loan to help pay for
the ports business of Asciano Ltd AIO.AX , in a carve-up of
Australia's largest ports and rail operator, people familiar
with the transaction said on Tuesday.
Five banks - Australia & New Zealand Banking Group,
Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Citigroup (NYSE:C), National Australia
Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp - are providing financing
on a club basis, said the people, who declined to be identified
due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The loan will be split into three- and five-year tranches
and is expected to yield less than 200 basis points, based on
the investment-grade credit profile of the ports business, the
people said.
The loan is in addition to A$800 million of equity Qube is
raising to pay for its share of the acquisition.
Qube and Brookfield, which were bidding against each other
for Asciano assets for seven months, unveiled a A$9.1 billion
plan earlier this month to split up the ports and rail giant
into two units.
Brookfield and its consortium partners - Singapore sovereign
wealth fund GIC Pte Ltd GIC.UL , British Columbia Investment
Management Corp and the Qatar Investment Authority - will
jointly own 50 percent of the ports business, while Qube will
own the other half.
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, U.S. investor Global
Infrastructure Partners and sovereign wealth fund China
Investment Corp CIC.UL would buy Asciano's railways business.
Separate debt financing for the acquisition of the rail
business is also under consideration, the people said.
Qube and Brookfield's acquisition plan means a A$1.9 billion
loan that was earlier structured to back Brookfield's previous
bid for Asciano has fallen away.
A dozen lenders had committed to that loan by early October
last year before the bid was blocked by Australia's competition
regulator.
Brookfield and Qube declined to comment when contacted about
the latest financing.
($1 = 1.3287 Australian dollars)