PORT of Portland’s owner has bought a significant minority share in GeelongPort but says there are no plans for closer co-operation between the two.
Palisade Investment Partners, which owns the Port of Portland outright, recently bought through its diversified infrastructure fund a 24.5 per cent of GeelongPort in a deal reportedly valuing that port at $1.2 billion.
Superannuation fund Spirit Super took a 51 per cent stake with another investor taking the rest.
Palisade bought a 50 per cent stake in Port of Portland in 2012, extending that to full ownership six years later.
GeelongPort is a direct competitor with the Port of Portland but Palisade executive director Alastair Pollock told the Observer the fund’s stake in Geelong was a minority one.
“We see it as a separate investment that doesn’t impact the Port of Portland,” he said.
That extended to sharing of resources between the two ports.
“Port of Portland and GeelongPort will continue to each be operated as standalone businesses by entirely different management teams and boards,” Mr Pollock said.
Palisade chief executive Roger Lloyd said: “GeelongPort’s diversified trade profile, strategic location and growth potential align with Palisade’s investment philosophy of investing in high quality infrastructure assets with stable and predictable income streams.”
In December Palisade also bought a 50 per cent stake in the Macarthur Wind Farm through its renewable energy fund.
Its website says Palisade is “a specialist, independent infrastructure manager that provides institutional and wholesale investors with access to Australian infrastructure projects through tailored portfolios and co-mingled funds”.
“Palisade’s multi-disciplinary and experienced team focuses on attractive mid-market assets that are essential to the efficient functioning of the communities and economies they serve. “We invest on behalf of our investors. Our investors benefit from limited intermediary involvement and investment decisions and management made without interference from a ‘conflicted parent’.”
