US investment giant Blackrock has acquired a major stake in BHP’s Pilbara power assets via a $US2 billion infrastructure agreement.
US investment giant Blackrock has acquired a major stake in BHP’s Pilbara power assets via a $US2 billion infrastructure agreement.
The deal will see Blackrock-owned Global Infrastructure hold a 49 per cent interest in the big Australian’s Western Australian Iron Ore division inland power network.
Assets in in the deal include the gas-fired Yarnima power station in Newman, about 400km of transmission lines, and a suite of substations supplying power to BHP’s mines and the town of Newman.
BHP chief financial officer Vandita Pant said the deal represented a disciplined approach to capital portfolio management.
“It strengthens our balance sheet flexibility, supports long-term value creation and enhances BHP’s shareholder value.”
BHP will retain control of the infrastructure via a trust entity, into which the miner will pay a tariff over the next 25 years.
The sale will free up capital for BHP, potentially to invest in projects which could unlock more growth for BHP.
The stake in BHP’s power generation brings GIP’s investments in the Pilbara to about $US6.5bn in recent years.
In 2023 GIP put $US1.4bn into Perdaman’s Project Ceres urea plant. One year earlier the firm outlaid circa-$US3.25bn for a 49 per cent slice of Woodside’s Pluto train two development.
Last year Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners spent $1.3b acquiring a 49 per cent stake in Mineral Resources’ haul road between the Ken’s Bore mine and its port at Onslow.
That road essentially acts as a toll road now, with MinRes paying the road’s owners – itself and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners – a fee per tonne of iron ore transported on the road.
- The journalist is a BHP shareholder.
