The new consortium who will lease Port Kembla and Port Botany for 99-years in a multi-billion dollar privatisation deal, say there will no job loses.
Industry Funds Management (IFM), one of the superannuation groups that make up the NSW Port Consortium, said that investment in the ports would create more jobs, the Illawarra Mercury reported.
"We have committed to the state for at least two years that there will be no job losses," IFM chief executive Brett Himbury said.
"That is part of our sale contract. Longer term we're quite confident that we will continue to invest in the port and grow the capacity of both Kembla and Botany.
"We would expect as a result of that growth, that there should be growth across all of the dimensions of the business, including employment growth."
The NSW Ports Consortium is 80 per cent made up by Australian super funds, and 20 per cent by Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
The group was granted the 99-year leases of Port Kembla and Port Botany on Friday, at a cost of $5 billion.
Himbury said the consortium was committed to the long-term growth of both ports.
"We are not a short-term private equity fund," he said. "We do not come in, rip the cost base out, gear it up and flip it off to someone else in 10 years.
"We hold these investments for a long period of time, we continue to invest capital in them.
"We continue to look after the employees, we deliver, hopefully, a better service and our investors benefit as a result of that."
He said that IFM has been part of a group leasing Melbourne Airport for that last 10 years, stating that in that time, direct employment has risen from 2500 to nearly 10,000.
Himbury said that a growing superannuation market meant more capital for investment.
"What that means is the Australian superannuation system – and indeed IFM – will have a lot of cash flow over the course of the next 20 years at least that we have to deploy into quality investments in this country and around the world.
"So we will have the capital available. We are therefore absolutely committed to continuing to invest in Port Botany and Port Kembla to grow the capacity and obviously impact returns for our investors and also enhance the community."
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