Keppel Infrastructure Fund Management ( KIFM ), as trustee-manager of Singapore-listed Keppel Infrastructure Trust ( KIT ), will divest on behalf of KIT a 24.62% stake in Ventura Motors, the largest bus service business in the state of Victoria, Australia, to private investment funds managed by Samsung Asset Management.

The sale consideration of the transaction is A$130 million ( US$84.73 million ), which is approximately 19% higher than the amount paid by KIT at acquisition for the relevant stake.

Post transaction, KIT and Andrew Cornwall, CEO of Ventura, will continue to hold stakes of 73.06% and 2.32%, respectively, in Ventura.

KIT acquired a 97.68% stake in Ventura in June 2024 for an enterprise value of A$600 million. Ventura, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia’s largest city, has a fleet of about 900 buses and 12 strategically located depots, and has the largest market share of public bus services in Victoria, operating approximately 530 out of Melbourne’s 1,200 routes and transporting more than 42 million people annually.

Ventura owns and operates Victoria’s first fully electric bus depot and has the largest fleet of 27 zero-emission electric buses ( ZEBs ) responsible for delivering over half of the trial electric buses under the Victorian government’s ZEB Trial.

The above transaction, expected to be completed in Q3, is not expected to have any material impact on the distribution per unit and net tangible assets per unit of KIT for the financial year ending December 31 2025.

“As part of KIT’s value creation strategy, we are pleased to be able to realize the upside in Ventura’s value through the divestment of a partial stake to Samsung,” says Kevin Neo, KIFM’s CEO. “This divestment, coupled with our earlier divestment of our 50% stake in Philippine Coastal Storage & Pipeline Corporation, both amounting to approximately S$301 million ( US$233.9 million ), will bolster KIT’s financial strength and agility, and enhance its ability to capture further opportunities through strategic capital recycling.”