The Wall Street Journal-20080116-Babcock -amp- Brown Ltd-- Company Continues To See Strong Demand
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Babcock & Brown Ltd.: Company Continues To See Strong Demand
Australian investment and asset-management firm Babcock & Brown Ltd. said yesterday it believes the effect on its business from the U.S. subprime-mortgage crisis has been overstated, as it continues to see strong demand across its key infrastructure division. Chief Executive Phil Green told CNBC television that while higher global wholesale interest rates were contributing to a general trend against financial stocks, the market is "not distinguishing" Babcock & Brown, which he said is more focused on asset management than on being an investment bank. Mr. Green said his company "encountered little head wind" during the final months of 2007, adding that "issues in credit markets . . . will affect our business a lot less than the market is currently factoring in." He said that across infrastructure, the firm's largest division, "we see continuing strong investor appetite." Mr. Green added that Babcock & Brown hasn't said that it was considering a potential A$2 billion (US$1.8 billion) bid for Forth Ports PLC, but that the management team of the Babcock & Brown European Infrastructure Fund "will be sitting down with the management of Forth and talking about where we go from here."
