Macquarie, Everbright to launch infrastructure funds

If you thought the movie Australia was long, the ongoing drama between China and the Land Down Under is starting to make people nod off in their seats. However, it may be winding up at last. Yesterday we had the big ol’ LNG deal. Today we find miner Fortescue Metals Group in financing talks with unspecified Chinese investors (perhaps code word for sovereign wealth fund) for a credit line of US$6 billion to be used for expansion. Fortescue recently provided Chinese buyers a 35% discount on iron ore, and securing financing was a precondition of the discount agreement. Fortescue must not be the only Aussie selling ore to China. Spot iron ore vessel bookings from Australia to the mainland started to recover in the first half of August, at the expense of vessel bookings from Brazil, which had reached record highs in July. In addition, Australia’s Macquarie Group and China Everbright are joining hands to create two funds that will seek US$1.5 billion for investment in infrastructure projects. One fund will be open to non-retail investors outside China, with the other open to domestic investors. The two banks will throw US$100 million in the pot. However, none of this is likely to comfort the Rio Tinto negotiators, who remain in jail; that investigation is likely to last another two months.