Street Talk

Macquarie Asset Management readies $5b-plus debt package for Qube bid

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Feb 4, 2026 – 5.54pm

Macquarie Asset Management is in the final furlong of picking a lender syndicate that would do the heavy lifting on its $11.6 billion bid for ASX-listed logistics group Qube.

The Silver Doughnut’s investing arm is preparing to borrow about $5 billion from debt markets to fund the take-private, according to people familiar with the arrangements but not authorised to speak publicly.

Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones.

Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column.

Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review.