Transurban has snapped up Brisbane's airport link tunnel for $1.9 billion - less than half the price it cost to build.
The toll road operator bought the AirportLink7 from the receivers behind BrisConnections, which collapsed after spending nearly $5 billion building the 6.7km motorway that connects the city's airport with its CBD.
The deal hands Transurban control of all six of Brisbane's toll roads.
Three of Transurban's existing five Brisbane routes are adjacent to the AirportLinkM7, which the company says gives it a chance to increase margins through efficiencies from asset integration.
AirportLinkM7 has a chequered past, with toll operator BrisConnections going into voluntary administration only seven months after road opened in 2012 because traffic numbers were much lower than forecasts.
The company's chief executive Scott Charlton says the tunnel - Australia's longest road tunnel - is a quality asset with improved traffic volumes and substantial additional capacity.
"The asset is performing well," he said.
"AirportLink is important to us because it is an integral asset in the middle of the network."
As well as the six Brisbane toll roads, Transurban owns or has stakes in six out of the eight NSW toll roads and one out of two in Victoria.
It also operates toll roads in the US.
IG market strategist Evan Lucas said Transurban had cemented itself as the dominant player in the toll road network along Australia's eastern seaboard.
"The fact the public purse is struggling these days to build public roads, they will always need a Transurban to help them develop major infrastructure," he said.
"That is why Transurban has fingers in that market in every part from construction to operation."
The toll operator has placed its shares in a trading halt while it carries out a $1.025 billion equity raising to help fund the purchase of AirportLinkM7.
Transurban shares last traded at $10.32, not far off the the all-time high of $10.63 they reached on November 2.
The fully underwritten entitlement offer will also reduce debt and provide capital for possible further investments, Transurban said.
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