Asciano shareholders look set to be wooed this Christmas season.
Logistics firm Qube Holdings has made a formal $9.02 billion offer for the ports and rail operator, narrowly beating an earlier $8.9 billion bid by Canadian infrastructure giant Brookfield.
Asciano's board expects to decide this week on opening its books to the rival suitor.
Qube, which already owns a 20 per cent stake in Asciano after a surprise raid in October, is offering $9.25 for each share in the company, in a cash and scrip offer.
It is an improvement on the current $9.22 a share bid by Brookfield.
Asciano chairman Malcolm Broomhead said his board is considering the new offer, but meanwhile continues to back Brookfield's bid.
"At this point, the board is considering whether to grant due diligence to Qube or not. We hope to take that decision in a day or two," he told reporters after the company's annual general meeting on Tuesday.
Ahead of that meeting, Qube sought access to Asciano's books and said it could complete due diligence by mid-December, in an effort to make a binding proposal as quickly as possible.
Qube said its proposal would allow Asciano shareholders to enjoy the benefits from combining Asciano's container terminals business with its own port logistics operations, while avoiding the risks associated with the New-York-listed Brookfield's global operations.
"The proposal represents superior value to the takeover offer announced by Brookfield, particularly given the red light issues announced by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission," it said.
Qube, which is chaired by former Patrick business boss Chris Corrigan, has teamed up with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board fund and infrastructure investor Global Investment Partners for the Asciano bid.
The consortium plans to carve up the Asciano business to step around regulatory hurdles, with Qube to acquire Asciano's Patrick container terminals business, as well as its stevedoring operations.
Pacific National rail, the country's largest private rail freight business, will be taken over by GIP and CPPIB.
Qube had threatened to vote against the Brookfield proposal at a shareholder meeting to vote on a scheme of arrangement this week, but that meeting was deferred. The consortium abstained from voting at the AGM.
Brookfield, which first proposed the Asciano takeover in June, was this week forced to raise its stake in the company to 19.2 per cent to stave off the rival.
It now hopes to build majority control in Asciano by going directly to shareholders, rather than seeking full ownership through a scheme of arrangement.
Its plan, however, faces hurdles from the competition watchdog.
The ACCC has said the massive takeover could lead to rail haulage in Western Australia and Queensland being dominated by the Brookfield, and sought time till December to take a decision on approving the deal.
Meanwhile, Asciano chief executive John Mullen told shareholders the company expects difficult market conditions to continue, with little chance of revenue growth this fiscal year.
However, the company, which has been restructuring and cutting costs to deal with the impact of a resources slowdown, expects to achieve its guidance for flat-to-low single digit earnings growth.
Asciano shares jumped after news of the rival bid, and at the close were trading 26 cents higher at $8.99. Qube shares were down 8.00 cents at $2.18.
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