D28 Water Supply Sewerage and Drainage Services

‘White elephant’ desalination plant placed on ratings watch

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Original article by Ben Potter
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 10-Jan-17

Fitch Ratings has placed Victoria’s Wonthaggi desalination plant on negative watch. The credit rating agency stated on 6 January 2017 that the negative watch move is related to the recent equipment failure, which raised doubts about the plant’s financial position. The plant is owned and operated by Aquasure, which has debts of $A3.65 billion. Fitch rates Aquasure’s senior debt "A-" and S&P Global Ratings rates it "BBB+".

CORPORATES
FITCH RATINGS LIMITED, S&P GLOBAL RATINGS, AQUASURE, UNISUPER LIMITED, SUEZ ENVIRONMENT, KOOKMIN BANK LIMITED, ITOCHU CORPORATION, CIMIC GROUP LIMITED – ASX CIM

Water assets next targets to be privatised

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Original article by Jenny Wiggins
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 27-Jul-15

Graeme Samuel will use an Infrastructure Partnerships Australia symposium to argue the case for selling government-owned assets such as water utilities. He strongly supports the privatisation of assets such as dams, water pipes and desalination plants, but concedes that it is a politically sensitive issue. Infrastructure Partnerships Australia CEO Brendan Lyon also believes that privatization of water assets is necessary, and suggests that they are an ideal investment for superannuation funds.

CORPORATES
INFRASTRUCTURE PARTNERSHIPS AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION