Miners sitting on $180b infrastructure nest egg

By Peter Ker – Financial Review

Mining companies are holding close to $180 billion worth of infrastructure assets and will increasingly sell stakes in power stations, pipelines and desalination plants as a way of bolstering cash flows, say industry analysts.

In August, Glencore chief financial officer Steve Kalmin revealed that investors were “banging down the door” for infrastructure assets. Since then, BHP has announced a $3 billion sale of West Australian power assets and Rio Tinto has named infrastructure as a central plank of a plan to sell up to $15.1 billion worth of assets.