Australian Funds Look To Sell UK Assets

(Reuters) – Australian investment groups have put swathes of British infrastructure, including ports in northeast England, up for sale in a bid to raise cash and pay down their debts, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.

Babcock & Brown (BNB.AX), a high profile Australian victim of the global financial crisis, has hired investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort (KWFTF.PK) to sell PD Ports, Britain’s second-largest ports group and operator of Hartlepool and Immingham docks, for at least 400 million pounds ($569 million), including debt, said the report.

The report also said Australian investment advisory firm Macquarie, whose funds control Thames Water, Bristol airport and the M6 toll road, was seeking buyers for its British assets. (Reporting by Rhys Jones; Editing by Dan Lalor) ($1=.7030 pound)