Four bidders shortlisted for Westrail freight sale

9/8/00
Four bidders have been shortlisted to proceed to the next stage of the sale of Westrail's freight business, Transport Minister Murray Criddle announced today.
Mr Criddle said the Australian Railroad Group, Black Swan Rail Consortium, Freight WA and Western Freight would now enter a detailed due diligence process, culminating in final, binding, financially underwritten bids in October.
"I hope that we will be in a position to announce the successful bidder before the end of the year," the Minister said.
He said he was delighted with the calibre of the shortlisted parties which had been selected from a strong field of bidders.
"All shortlisted bidders submitted a strong business plan with innovative ideas for improving service and growing the rail business," Mr Criddle said.
"They have also stated their commitment to employee training and incentives.
"I'm pleased that we have a good mix of Australian, European and American representation among the bidding parties."
The partners in the Australian Railroad Group are Genesee and Wyoming Australia, and Wesfarmers.
Genesee and Wyoming Australia is part of the Genesee and Wyoming group which includes more than 20 operations in Australia, the US, Canada and Mexico. It runs the South Australian freight railway and is part of the consortium chosen to build and operate the Alice Springs-to-Darwin rail link.
Wesfarmers is one of Australia's major diversified industrial groups, and owns Wesfarmers Transport, a leading WA road transport operator.
The Black Swan Rail Consortium is made up of Railroad Development Corporation, a US-based short line rail operator with operations in North and South America and in Africa, and Barclay Mowlem Ltd, an Australian subsidiary of a major international engineering group with substantial railway construction and maintenance experience.
Barclay Mowlem is also an equity participant in the consortium which will build, own and operate the Alice Springs-to-Darwin railway.
Freight WA is owned by Rail America, which is the largest short haul and regional rail operator in the world. Rail America was the successful bidder for the Victoria rail freight business V-Line Freight, which was privatised in 1999.
The Western Freight Consortium consists of GB Rail and AMEC Engineering. GB Rail operates freight and passenger operations around the world and is the third largest rail freight operator in the United Kingdom.
AMEC Engineering is a wholly owned subsidiary of AMEC plc, one of the world's leading infrastructure groups with substantial experience in developing and managing rail assets.
"All the short listed consortia are led by highly respected, experienced and efficient rail operators and backed by quality institutional equity providers," Mr Criddle said.
"I'm confident that from these four consortia we will be able to select the innovative and aggressive operator we are seeking to introduce operating efficiencies to Westrail Freight, to grow the business, and to invest in the business to an extent not possible with the limited resources available to Government."
Media contact: Doug Cunningham 9321 7333