Infrastructure experts advise Moorebank on financial close of A$2 billion Moorebank Intermodal Terminal

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Moorebank Intermodal Company Limited on the financial close of the Moorebank Intermodal Terminal, a A$2 billion freight hub at Moorebank in south-western Sydney.

Once constructed, the freight hub will include:

• an import-export terminal and an interstate terminal;
• a rail connection to the Southern Sydney Freight Line; and
• up to 850,000sqm of warehousing.

The freight hub is critical for managing the increasing freight traffic through Port Botany and freight congestion on Sydney’s roads. Crucial to the project was cooperation between several different landholders, whose different parcels of land are required for construction and operation of the freight hub.

The Herbert Smith Freehills team included Greg Hing, Peter Briggs, Mark Clifton and Elizabeth Charlesworth who provided advice on planning, financing and Personal Property Securities Act issues that arose during the project.

King & Wood Mallesons and Norton Rose Fulbright acted for Qube, while Ashurst acted for the Commonwealth.

This deal is another example of Herbert Smith Freehills’ market-leading work in infrastructure projects. Other recent examples include:

• advising a consortium on their agreement for the A$16 billion sale and long-term lease of 50.4% of the Ausgrid electricity network in New South Wales;
• advising the successful Lonsdale Consortium on the acquisition of a 50-year lease of the Port of Melbourne from the Victorian Government;
• advising the NSW Government on its Social and Affordable Housing Fund (SAHF), a first of its kind for Australia;
• advising the Canberra Metro consortium on its successful bid for the Australian Capital Territory Capital Metro light rail project.