May 2, 2022

Share There’s a shootout looming for Loscam’s Australian pallet pooling business. Weeks out from the auction, Street Talk’s hearing plenty of stories about private equity and infrastructure types running desktop due diligence on Loscam’s Australian pallets division, setting the scene for what could be a tight battle. Loscam shareholders, including Citic Capital and Chinese PE investor FountainVest, are keen to get bids for the Australian pallet business. Reuters The latest name on watchers’ lips is Pacific Equity Partners, which is understood to be considering a tilt via its new Secure Assets Fund (SAFII). PEP’s got little experience in pallets, but has always loved a corporate carve-out and particularly when it’s an Australian unit coming out of a bigger global company. PEP’s expected to take an information memorandum and financial model, due out in late May, when the process kicks off via Goldman Sachs and UBS. Advertisement Others hanging around the hoop include ASX-listed Pact Group, which has Citi on board considering all sorts of options, and the global buyout shops with Australian offices. Loscam shareholders, including Citic Capital and Chinese PE investor FountainVest, are keen to get bids for the Australian business, knowing that infrastructure funds are moving into the sector and multiples have soared above 10 times. Loscam Australia is a business that industrials bankers and buyout shops know well. The business was previously owned by Affinity Equity Partners, which sold to China Merchants Group for close to $700 million in 2010. China Merchants sold down its stake in 2018, selling more than 50 per cent of the company to Citic and FountainVest. Loscam management also retains a shareholding. Anthony Macdonald co-edits Street Talk, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets. He has 10 years' experience as a business journalist and worked at PwC, auditing and advising financial services companies. Connect with Anthony on Twitter . Email Anthony at a.macdonald@afr.com Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones. Email Sarah at sarah.thompson@afr.com Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column. Email Kanika at kanika.sood@afr.com.au Save