Transport infrastructure company Asciano Group
(ASX:AIO) has expressed its support for a break-up of Queensland Rail.
CFO Peter McGregor has told the Australian Financial Review that the company wants QR to be split into two separate businesses – one which runs Queensland’s rail network and another which transports freight and commodities by train.
But the Queensland government wants to sell the company as one business to maximise its return.
Mr McGregor says that whatever happens, there will be no impact on Asciano’s existing Queensland operations, but it will influence the company’s future investment decisions in the state.
He says the proposal to maintain QR as a vertically integrated operator was fundamentally flawed.
The Queensland government has appointed five banks to run a $7 billion share float of QR’s coal and freight arm, but a consortium of mining heavyweights including Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton is widely expected to make an alternative bid for the company’s track network.
Asciano posted a loss of $246.44 million for the 2009 financial year.
