The board of Asciano has accepted the bid from the Qube-led consortium for the entire issued capital of Asciano Limited, a rail and port logistics company in Australia. 

Brookfield, which had previously offered a US$8,9 billion proposal, has failed to formalize a higher cash bid for the group.

This announcement comes after, last week, the board declared the US$9.05 bid from the Qube-led consortium superior to the former bid proposed by Brookfield Infrastructure.

The accepted bid came from Qube and its consortium partners Global Infrastructure Partners, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the China Investment Corporation, which had increased their offer for Asciano offering US$7.04 in cash plus one Qube share for every Asciano share.

Asciano Limited is an Australian freight logistics company, operating in railway freight and shipping. Asciano was demerged from Toll Holdings in 2007, and owns Patrick Corporation and Pacific National as subsidiary companies. Asciano specialises in bulk and container shipping and transportation, with port and train operations across Australia. It has over 8,000 employees.