The Brief:
Macquarie Asset Management buys a 50% stake in Secure Electronic Registries Victoria (SERV) from Aware Super for about $4bn.
Allens advised Aware Super, while Mallesons steered the buy side for MAM.
Back in 2018, Macquarie missed out.
The asset manager was the underbidder when Victoria first privatised its land titles registry, SERV. Aware Super took the prize instead, paying $2.86bn for a 40-year concession.
Eight years on, Macquarie got its second shot.
On Sunday night, Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) agreed terms to buy 50% of SERV off Aware Super for roughly $4bn. It’s the first change of ownership at the registry since it left public hands.
The deal
SERV processes about 9 million property transactions a year across Victoria. There are 33 years still left to run on that concession, so this is very much a long-haul bet. The business sits on roughly $2bn of debt and is tipped to post $160m in EBITDA for FY26.
The sale kicked off in December, when Aware Super appointed Barrenjoey Capital Partners to run a strategic review. OMERS Infrastructure, the Canadian pension giant, is reportedly the underbidder.
MAM is buying in through its Macquarie Global Infrastructure Fund. Aware Super keeps the other half and says it’s staying put as a long-term shareholder.
The two aren’t strangers. MAM and Aware have already teamed up on NSW Land Registry Services, sold for $2.6bn in 2017, and VicRoads, partially privatised for $7.9bn in 2022. They also co-own telcos Vocus and 2degrees.
Completion is pencilled in for Q4 2026, subject to customary approvals and sign-off from the Victorian Government.
Who’s acting
Allens advised Aware Super, led by partners Chris Blane and Jeremy Low, backed by managing associates Stephanie Rowan and Georgie Leahy, senior associate Angela Zhangbao, and associates Maxwell Padley and Lucy Sheppard. The firm also pulled in specialists across tech, banking and finance, competition, employment and real estate.
For Blane, it’s a full-circle moment. He advised Aware on its original 2018 acquisition of the registry, and now finds himself steering its next chapter.
Mallesons advised MAM, led by partner Henrik Moritz, with partner Nicole Heller, special counsel Gareth Howe and Patrick Atkinson, and senior associate Samuel Higgs rounding out the team.
Source: Aware Super, Allens, AFR