macquarie

The South Bay Expressway (SBX), Macquarie's first foray into the US toll business continues to be a bear for the group. Data released to the Sydney Stock Exchange show traffic in the latest quarter (2009Q3) down 13.6% on the prior corresponding period of 2008 for average daily transactions of 22.5k, v 26.1k in the tollroad's first year.

Macquarie are proposing to split their portfolio of pikes into the gems (called Mature MIG) and the duds called (called Active MIG). For the MMIG gems investors will pay a premium but will see the returns roll in steadily.

Leading concessionaire Macquarie report that their weighted average of traffic worldwide was up 1.6% in the last quarter, July-September, an improvement on the low point early this year. Greatest traffic strength was on the APRR motorway network in central France, up 3.4% over last year, and Westlink Sydney up 5.7%. The American pikes were the poor performers in traffic with the exception of Chicago Skyway.

Puerto Rico's Public Private Partnerships Authority has hired Macquarie Capital to assist them developing a P3 program. Carlos M Garcia, chairman of the authority is quoted in the announcement as saying that private investment is needed to improve the island territory's infrastructure in high priority areas.

A much anticipated Macquarie Infrastructure Group (MIG) report shows the big private toll road concessionaire with rather stable traffic, revenue and profits, but as anticipated big writedowns in the valuation of their toll properties. Nine toll property shares are downvalued in total by 28% in the first six months of this year (31 Dec to 30 Jun) and by 40% since 30 Jun last year.

Several readers have forwarded us a Bloomberg News report with the all-capitalized headline "Illinois, Indiana Toll Roads May Join Macquarie Sales" suggesting we should follow up on this. Trouble is there's nothing there, no news, nothing new.

Macquarie Infrastructure Group, a major international tollroad operator says in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange that a preliminary calculation of its portfolio value at June 30 is $4.1b (A$5.1b.) This is 28.2% below the valuation for the same tollroad assets at the end of 2008 which was $5.7b (A$7.1b.) That in turn was a downvaluation on earlier numbers. (A$1.00 = US80c)

by Payson R Peabody, Dykema       Members of Congress who believe in fiscal responsibility, tax fairness, and state autonomy should think twice about endorsing the highway reauthorization bill that began working its way through Congress on Wednesday. The bipartisan legislation crafted by House Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN) severely restricts one of the most viable options

A senior Macquarie official, DJ Gribbin, managing director Macquarie Capital, New York, has penned a sharp critique of the toll concession legislation (S884, S885) introduced by US senators Bingaman and Grassley, saying it is surprising that they would propose disincentives to private investment at this time.

British newspapers report that Macquarie are hawking their premier pike in England, the M6Toll in Birmingham. Sunday Times' reporters say they've been told by various industry sources that Macquarie representatives have been offering M6Toll and various other concession assets.

Macquarie Infrastructure Group's CEO John Hughes told investors in a  presentation on end-2008 results that their capital position is strong, but that at its present share price it doesn't have a mandate to take on new toll projects. The group downvalued its assets by A$1.72b (US$1.08b @A$=63c) in the second half of 2008 (2008H2) or by about 18% reflecting lowered forecasts for earnings.

Macquarie, Australia's leading investment bank with a presence in tollroads is continuing to writedown assets but remains profitable, has a healthy balance sheet, and shows no sign of going the way of the fallen Wall Street giants - according to data presented at an "operations briefing" by senior managers today.

A major French toll motorway Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhone (APRR) is suffering declines in traffic somewhat similar in scale to US tollroads. According to a report to the Australian Stock Exchange APRR's vehicle-km traveled declined to 4.54b in the December quarter of 2008 vs 4.73b in Dec Q 2007, a decline of 4.1%.

Macquarie the Sydney investment bank and funds manager best known for toll concessions is planning to work the other side of the street. In partnership with a Chicago finance group Citadel they have formed Municipal and Infrastructure Assurance Corporation, which hardly rolls off the tongue easily, but will probably be known by the acronym MIAC.

Macquarie shares dropped almost 10% in price in heavy trading on Australian stock exchanges yesterday and are now down 24% from their August 13 price of A$54.10. Yesterday they dropped from A$46.05 to A$41.61. (A$ trades in the range US85c to 90c.)

Macquarie is making its first move in the the huge but uncertain toll business in China. A Macquarie fund MIIF (Macquarie International Infrastructure Fund) based in Singapore has bought an 81% interest in the Hua Nan Expressway (HNE), an urban tollroad in Guangzhou, the major city of Guangdong province, right by Hong Kong.

Philip Shucet has left Macquarie after just a few months as managing director of Macquarie Securities (USA) in New York. He says he has left to go back and live in Virginia Beach with his family and to manage his small real estate firm there.

He told us: "I absolutely loved my time with Macquarie. It's a fantastic company."