DataRoom AM: CapitaLand clear-out

CapitaLand looks to be getting out of Australand for good after a year of looking for the most suitable exit, and AustralianSuper is looking at its options for Healthscope.

Meanwhile, Metrocoal is getting opportunistic with Cape Alumina, MMG is in a telling trading halt and Australia Post’s Ahmed Fahour is selling Rip Curl stock.

Singapore’s CapitaLand could be prepping to sell its remaining 39.1 per cent stake in Australand Property Group, according to The Australian Financial Review.

The newspaper believes the block, currently valued at $875 million, could be marketed to institutions as early as this morning. Citigroup is thought to have the deal.

CapitaLand put Australand on the block just over a year ago and sold a 20 per cent stake in November last year. Early this month it was believed Hong Kong’s Pacific Alliance Group harboured strong interest in the $2bn-plus ASX-listed group, joining Mirvac Group and Stockland as potential buyers. Last year, GPT Group made an unsuccessful go at Australand.

The same newspaper reports that AustralianSuper is thinking about a run at Healthscope, having engaged an investment bank and begun talks about possible equity partners.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported Malaysia’s IHH Healthcare was eyeing Healthscope, which could be worth up to $5 billion. Private equiteers TPG Capital and Carlyle Group currently hold the hospital and pathology business.

Metrocoal has thrown an opportunistic on-market bid for junior resources play Cape Alumina four months after the pair axed a merger deal.

The suitor, which has a 6.8 per cent stake in the target, is offering 6 cents a share. The player to convince however, is Resources Capital Fund, which is sitting on 40.5 per cent of the register.

Everything between Metrocoal and Cape Alumina came undone when the Queensland government banned mining in a Cape York nature reserve, where Cape Alumina’s leading project sits.

Hong Kong-listed, Australian-managed MMG has been placed in a trading halt amid ongoing reports that it’s leading a deal to acquire the Las Bambas copper project in Peru from Glencore Xstrata for $US6bn ($6.61bn).

MMG chief executive Andrew Michelmore has declined to comment on just about every story that’s come out about this potential deal. MMG has been closely watched by M&A folk for some time about its next eye-catching deal.

Meanwhile, industrial giant Goodman Group has thrown almost $2bn at developments in China, according to The Australian.

Elsewhere, Carnegie Wave Energy has been extended a $20m, five-year loan by the Clean Energy Finance Corp.

And finally, Australia Post boss Ahmed Fahour has sold the majority of his shares in surfwear retailer Rip Curl for $2.99m less than two months after stepping down as chairman of the privately owned company.