Patrick Corporation is an Australian seaport operator with operations in Brisbane, Fremantle, Melbourne and Sydney. Formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, it is owned by Brookfield Asset Management and Qube Holdings.
History
Patrick Steamship Co was founded in 1919 by James Patrick. It operated a shipping service with the SS Timaru out of Sydney along the East Coast of Australia. By 1925 it was operating as both a shipping line and stevedore, gradually expanding interstate.History Patrick Corporation The shipping operations were sold to Howard Smith.
In 1988, Patrick entered a joint venture with Australian National Line to operate all of their ports with Patrick owning 40%.ANL, Patricks merger Australian Transport December 1988 page 29ANL, Patricks join forces in Brisbane stevedoring group Australian Transport & Distribution Management September 1990 page 13
Patrick was one of the main parties in the 1998 Australian waterfront dispute. In Patrick Stevedores Operations No 2 Pty Ltd v Maritime Union of Australia, Patrick was found to have illegally dismissed its workforce.How the waterfront dispute 20 years ago changed Australia 7:30 6 April 2018 After a corporate restructure, in April 1998, the company fired its entire workforce on the docks in Australia, and replaced them with a non-unionised workforce that had been trained in Dubai, resulting in controversy and picketing.20 years on: War on the waterfront Sydney Morning Herald 6 April 2018Battle on the waterfront The Age 12 May 2007
In 2000 Patrick Corporation took over Holyman.Takeover Offer Document to shareholders (Ord shares) Lang Corporation 21 October 1999Changes to Holyman Board/Compulsory Acquisition Holyman 30 December 1999 In November 2000, Patrick purchased the post operations of Mayne Nickless.Mayne sells Austn port ops to Lang Australasian Transport News 24 November 2000Mayne offloads port assets to Lang Australasian Transport News 2 February 2001 In February 2002, in partnership with Toll Holdings, it acquired a 50% shareholding in Pacific National that purchased FreightCorp and the National Rail Corporation.Freightcorp and National Rail Corporation sold to National Rail Consortium for one billion dollars ABC News 31 January 2002Toll and Lang win NRC/FC Railway Gazette International March 2002 page 112 In March 2002, Patrick acquired a 50% stake in Virgin Blue.Patrick deal boost for Virgin Blue CNN 11 March 2002Virgin Blue And Patrick Forge New Aviation Partnership Virgin Blue 12 March 2002 It took control of the airline in March 2005, ultimately having a 63% shareholding.Patrick seizes control of Virgin Blue Australian Financial Review 19 March 2005Patrick knocks back takeover bid ABC News 22 August 2005
In August 2005, Toll Holdings launched a hostile takeover bid for Patrick Corporation. In January 2006, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced it would not allow that Toll to takeover Patrick Corporation.Toll Holdings Ltd Australian Competition & Consumer Commission However, in March 2006, after the ACCC announced it would allow the takeover after Toll gave further undertakings including disposing of its 50% shareholding in Pacific National.Toll Holdings Ltd – proposed acquisition of Patrick Corporation Ltd Australian Competition & Consumer CommissionACCC accepts revised undertakings from Toll in relation to proposed acquisition of Patrick Australian Competition & Consumer Commission
In April 2006, Patrick Corporation agreed to accept Toll's revised bid for the company after spending nine months fighting the hostile takeover.Patrick accepts Toll takeover ABC News 14 April 2006Game over: Toll takes Patrick Sydney Morning Herald 14 April 2006 Having gained a 90% shareholding in May 2006, Toll was able to compulsorily purchase the remaining shares and delist the company from the Australian Securities Exchange.Toll gains more than 90% of Patrick & will proceed with compulsory acquisition Toll Holdings 24 May 2006Patrick Corporation Limited: Removal from Official List Australian Securities Exchange 3 July 2006
To fulfil an undertaking given to the ACCC to divest itself of Patrick's Bass Strait and Tasmanian operations, this part of the business was sold to SeaRoad in March 2007.About SeaRoadACCC allows Toll to divest Tasmanian Shipping and Forwarding businesses to Chas Kelly Group Australian Competition & Consumer Commission 8 March 2007
In June 2007, Patrick Corporation and Pacific National were spun-off from Toll Holdings as Asciano.New Structure Asciano As part of the break up of Asciano, a consortium of Brookfield Asset Management and Qube Holdings purchased Patrick in August 2016.Brookfield Infrastructure Consortium to Acquire Assets of Asciano Limited Brookfield Asset Management 14 March 2016Qube Brookfield consortium completes acquisition of Patrick Qube Holdings 18 August 2016 The Bulk and Automotive Port Services business was sold separately as the Linx Cargo Care Group.About Linx Cargo Care Group
References
External links Company website