Allens Arthur Robinson (Allens) has advised the Queensland Government on the A$6.7 billion IPO of rail operator QR National, the second largest IPO ever conducted in Australia.
Brisbane-based Partners John Greig and Erin Feros led the team advising the Queensland Government on the IPO. A national team with equity capital markets, competition, employment, structured finance and privatisation expertise was put together for the transaction and included Partners Kylie Brown, Grant Anderson, Stuart McCulloch, Andrew Knox, Peter James, Jamie Wells and Jacqueline Downes.
The QR National IPO is the largest in Australia in a decade, and the largest new Australian stock market listing since the privatisation of Telstra Corporation. QR National is Australia’s largest rail freight operator and the world’s largest rail transporter of coal from mines to ports for export markets.
Corporate Partner Kylie Brown said the QR National IPO was also notable for occurring in an IPO market that has been largely closed for six months.
‘It is too early to say whether this listing signals the re-opening of the market for IPOs. There are significant differences between the scale and type of business that is QR National and other privately owned businesses that may be waiting to IPO,’ she said
‘However, the scale of the listing may be viewed optimistically by some and encourage additional companies to test the market.’
For the second year in a row, Allens has completed a signature equity capital markets deal for issuer clients. In 2009, the firm advised on Rio Tinto’s US$15.2 billion rights issue, which was the largest undertaken in Australia and among the top five globally in 2009.
Mr Greig said the challenges of scale and tight timelines on the QR National transaction were met by having a team of experts and drawing on the depth of resources from right across the firm.
‘Being able to draw on that specialist expertise along with the outstanding commitment of the lawyers and support services team in the Brisbane office enabled us to keep what was a large and complex transaction on track,’ he said.
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