According to media reports, Asciano is seeking to sell its coal haulage business. (Image courtesy of Pacific National)
Shares in Asciano have been put on a trading halt, after experiencing a dramatic fall of 60 per cent today.
The Australian port and rail operator said the securities would remain in pre-open until tomorrow pending response to a query from the stock exchange.
The company has reportedly played down the speculation that it was planning a capital raising in order to lessen its staggering debt of $4.5 billion.
“We are in the monetisation process, where we are looking at part or full sale of one of our assets. And we are well progressed in that,” a company’s spokesperson told Reuters.
“We understand the need to address our capital structure and that’s what we are in the process of doing.”
With its market value estimated at $1.5 billion, it is speculated the company was seeking to sell its coal business, which it holds a 50 per cent stake.
According to Merrill Lynch, the coal business could help the case-scrapped company up to $900 million.
The company has been persistently rejecting the takeover proposal from private equity consortium TPG.
The Texas-based consortium of TPG Capital and Global Infrastructure Partners recently put up a $1 billion share offer, as an alternative approach to its ill-fated $2.9 billion non-binding offer made in August.
Asciano, however, stood firm on the view that the offers underestimated its true value.
The company’s chairman Tim Poole previously said at the annual general meeting that: “The board absolutely believes that the current market price of Asciano securities in no way reflects the underlaying value of Asciano’s businesses.
“The board and management team are working to close the gap between the security prices and the underlying value of our business as soon as possible,” he said.
The company’s shares have been constantly plummeting since mid-2007, with their values now hitting below six per cent of the values recorded in the peak.