MACQUARIE Infrastructure Group is planning to sell its half stake in the Westlink M7 to a company it set up just over a week ago.
The shelf operation - in which just one share has been issued to date - will transform itself into the Western Sydney Road Group (WSRG), which MIG said earlier this week would buy its 50 per cent investment in the 40-kilometre section of the city's pay-as-you-go cashless motorway.
WSRG will be half-owned by MIG and an unnamed Australian investment group, which is thought to be the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC), a state-owned fund manager and long-term backer of various Macquarie projects.
Sources have indicated that QIC has almost certainly linked with the Macquarie entity, although the investment group has refused to confirm or deny its involvement by saying it "doesn't comment on market speculation".
The two will link through the $1 company WSO Investment Holding Company Pty Ltd, which MIG registered in Victoria on November 25 with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
WSO's registered office and main place of business is listed as the headquarters of Macquarie Group in Martin Place, Sydney, which is also the ultimate owner of the company through its control of MIG's manager, Macquarie Infrastructure Investment Management (MIIM).
MIIM holds the single share in WSO.
The tiny company will be re-structured into a joint business owning an $805 million investment in the M7 if the binding offer received by MIG from itself and its would-be partner goes ahead without the intervention of the motorway's co-owner, Transurban.
Under a pre-emptive rights arrangement between the two groups, Transurban has until the middle of next month to match the sale price or let the offer lapse - which, in turn, will trigger the deal with WSRG.
Analysts indicated that with MIG setting a deadline of the end of the year to dispose of its M7 shareholding to help underpin its balance sheet, the deal to sell the motorway in part to itself was designed to force Transurban to take over 100 per cent ownership of the road.
MIG put its stake up for sale in August but failed to attract a decent enough offer from a third party buyer. MIG's securities yesterday closed 2c down yesterday, having lost 27c since the deal was unveiled on Monday.
